A Russian traveler tested the performance of the MIR bank card in a country that is declared to accept cards from the Russian payment system, and noted that in general, a non-cash payment method works, but there are nuances. She spoke about this in detail on the Yandex.Zen channel.
According to the traveler, payment by card in the post-Soviet state takes place not only in cafes and restaurants, but also in hotels and guest houses. Despite the blocking in Russia of the online platform for renting accommodation Booking, the author noted that she booked guest houses in which she stayed during her trip to Uzbekistan exactly there. Since, within the framework of anti-Russian sanctions, the service blocked accommodation facilities located only in the Russian Federation, but not outside it.
However, the Russians will not be able to pay for the selected objects remotely due to the suspension of the Mastercard and Visa payment systems. However, the girl found a way out – she chose offers that did not require prepayment for booking. The landmark on the site is the note “Cash payment on the spot. A card is not required.”
Then the tourist asked the host whether it was possible to pay on the spot in rubles or soums, i.e. local currency. Three out of four hotels answered that they accept any of the indicated currencies, and only one worked exclusively with sums.
“Just in case, I took cash rubles with me, but I didn’t need them. Of these, I spent only 500 rubles. by taxi when she arrived in Uzbekistan. In the future, I took cash from the card and paid with it. Whether you will be charged a commission for the operation depends on which bank issued the MIR card to you. Tourists who used the Sberbank card said that they were charged a commission. I used the Tinkoff card, no commission was withheld from me, ”the blogger explained.
An important nuance is that “their state payment system UZCARD works with the Russian MIR payment system in Uzbekistan,” however, local merchants are practically unaware of this and, at the sight of a Russian card, may refuse to accept it. However, according to the tourist, payment with our MIR card is possible everywhere, because. each organization has two terminals: for the uzcard payment system and for other payment systems. Just like in the case of ATMs.
On the other hand, not all locals know that MIR works with their Uzcard. “When they see our card, they understand that it is not Uzcard, they try to make a payment through another terminal. Naturally, it does not pass. It is important to insist that the payment be made through the Uzcard terminal. In very rare cases, the payment may not go through. This happened to me once during the whole trip,” the traveler said.
To withdraw cash from an ATM in Uzbekistan from a card issued by a Russian bank, you need to find an ATM of the Uzcard payment system. It's easy to do: ATMs are ubiquitous.
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