What are the fees associated with using Yandex Money?

Yandex Money charges a fee for inactivity, and you'll also be hit with high fees for certain transactions. It's not the most transparent service when it comes to pricing.

Can I use Yandex Money to transfer money internationally?

Yes, Yandex Money supports multiple currencies, making it a decent option for international transactions.

Is Yandex Money safe to use?

I've had some issues with the service, but Yandex Money is still a relatively secure option. Just be aware of the potential pitfalls.

Can I withdraw cash using Yandex Money?

Yes, you can withdraw cash using Yandex Money, but the options are limited, and the fees can be steep.

What happens if I lose my Yandex Money card?

If you lose your card, you'll need to contact customer support to report it. Be prepared for a frustrating experience.

Can I use Yandex Money on my smartphone?

Yes, Yandex Money has a mobile app, making it easy to manage your account on the go.

Is Yandex Money available in my country?

Yandex Money is available in several countries, but the service and fees may vary depending on your location.

How do I contact Yandex Money customer support?

Yandex Money's customer support is available via phone, email, and online chat. Be prepared for long wait times and unhelpful representatives.

Can I cancel my Yandex Money account?

Yes, you can cancel your Yandex Money account, but be aware of the potential fees and penalties.

What happens to my balance if I cancel my Yandex Money account?

If you cancel your account, your balance will be frozen, and you'll need to contact customer support to release it.

Is Yandex Money a good option for freelancers?

Yandex Money can be a decent option for freelancers, but be aware of the fees and limitations.

Can I use Yandex Money for online shopping?

Yes, Yandex Money supports online shopping, but be aware of the potential fees and limitations.

Yandex Money Review: Is it Worth the Hassle?

A Cautionary Tale: My Disappointing Experience with Yandex Money

Hello readers!

I work remotely full-time, so I'm always relying on digital wallets. They're a must-have for my line of work. I've always been a fan of Kivi. Not that they're perfect, but they're easy to use, convenient, and practical – exactly what I need in the online world.

But, as it happened, Kivi shut down yet again, and now it's impossible to transfer digital money to cash using them. WebMoney also bit the dust, leaving only Yandex Money as an option.

I used to be super skeptical of Yandex Money when it was still Yandex.Dengi. I'd heard they charge a subscription fee for inactivity, so I steered clear of it. But, with no other options available, I had to give it a shot.

Later on, I found out that the service had changed hands and was now owned by Sberbank. That seemed like a good thing, right? I mean, who wouldn't trust a well-established bank? But, as it turned out, that was a bad move.

As it turns out, Yandex Money has a decent and user-friendly interface that's easy to navigate. However, the fee for transferring digital money to a card was outrageous – 3% plus 50 rubles on top. That's the highest I've seen from any service.

But wait! There's a way to avoid these ridiculously high fees (and any fees at all) when transferring money, and that's what I ended up doing!

There are only two ways to avoid fees when transferring money with Yandex Money:

Use the St. Petersburg option;Order a YuMoney card.I wasn't a fan of the first option, mainly because I hate smartphones and don't use them. And, to be honest, it seems like there's a lot of discrimination against people who don't have smartphones...

Lucky me, there was a second way to get the money: transferring it to a special YuMoney card. Here's how it worked: you order a plastic card for 400 rubles. It's linked to your e-wallet account. You can withdraw cash without any commission up to 10,000 rubles once a month, and use it to pay in stores just like a regular card, with no commission, as many times as you want!

It's just amazing! I was over the moon! Where had this card been my whole life when I was shelling out a ton of money in commissions on WebMoney? If I'd had this card earlier, I'd have saved at least 20,000 rubles. Of course, I immediately got excited about the idea of buying the card and ordered it without hesitation. Although, why not? I did ask a couple of questions in customer support, though.

The card is valid for five years, and you only pay 400 rubles for the whole five years. That's nothing! Compared to the Sberbank card, which costs 450 rubles per year. And ordering it is a breeze.

Navigate to the cards section in your account, click 'order a plastic card', and then choose your design. You've got a few options to pick from.

I chose... the one with the green elephant. The color isn't my favorite, but it looks pretty cool.

Screenshot from the websiteI was a bit disappointed with the limited options, to be honest. There aren't many choices, and they're all pretty standard. I mean, it's not like it's a unique experience or anything.

Next, I had to fill out my details and wait for the package to arrive from Moscow - which took around two weeks. But, surprisingly, it arrived a few days earlier both times I ordered. You can track the package on the Russian Post website and pick it up at your local post office.

I really wanted to get the card as soon as possible. I had to get some dental work done, and I decided to transfer the money ASAP to avoid paying a commission. And, let me tell you, it was a pretty sweet deal. I would've had to pay 600 rubles to transfer the money to my Sberbank card, but with the YuMoney card, it was only 400 rubles, and I wouldn't have to pay any transfer fees at all. Plus, I could use the card almost anywhere, which was a big plus.

Oh, and by the way! I was also looking forward to getting the cashback on my purchases. I had to spend around 15,000 rubles on the card, and I would've gotten 500 rubles in cashback, which is more than the 400 rubles I paid for the card. So, I was really excited to get my hands on it.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity...

I headed to the Russian Post office and waited in line. Once I got there, I headed home and activated my card. It's a super simple process, even for someone like me who's a bit tech-phobic. To do it, you just need to log in to your account, go to the 'cards' section, and click 'activate'. Then, a window will pop up and you'll need to enter your card number.

Screenshot from the websiteAfter that, just enter any 4-digit PIN you like and your card is good to go. You can find all the details about your card in your personal account.

Getting the card itself was a pretty standard process. Just grab your passport and phone and you're good to go. If there's no line, it's a quick in-and-out.

The letter comes with the company's logos and is standard size.

The package is pretty lightweight. Inside, there's just the card and some basic documentation. It's all the information you need, and nothing extra. You can find all the same details on the website.

There's a little guide that comes with the card, some stickers, a statement, and that's about it.

I have no idea what the stickers are for, but they do look kind of cool.

The card itself is a standard plastic one, a lovely green color. It arrived exactly as I ordered it, complete with a little green sloth and other green creatures.

But there are black stripes on it that are actually a tight weave, and not part of the design. Maybe they'll wear off over time.

On the front of the card, there's no card number - that's actually on the back. You'll also find the CVV code, your username (which you don't have to include when ordering online), the card's expiration date (5 years), and the digital wallet number it's linked to.

Overall, it looks pretty normal and nothing's giving me any cause for concern.

The included guide has all the basic info on how to use the card, including how to top it up and so on. It's all super straightforward. They've also included some info on cashback.

The pay slip for transferring my salary to the card just confirms that it's a standard debit card. And, of course, my card number ended with my favorite number - 36.

The problems started right from the get-go, though...

I activated the card and was stoked to try it out in a store. I walked into FixPrice, picked out a purchase, and headed to the checkout.

But wait, I couldn't pay with the card! Why not, I have no idea. The terminal beeped and the cashier asked if it was a credit card...

So, I figured I'd try paying with the card at a pharmacy instead. Maybe the terminal at FixPrice was just having a bad day? But nope, I couldn't pay there either. The terminal said something like 'payment failed, contact Sberbank'...

Now I was getting a bit anxious.

I decided to head to an ATM and try to withdraw some cash. But that didn't work out either. As soon as I inserted the card and entered my PIN, the terminal told me 'operation cannot be completed'.

And at that point, I was freaking out.

I was counting on this card to pay my doctor's bill, so I had to transfer the money from Yoomoney to my Sberbank card instead. That meant I lost my cashback and had to pay a commission on top of it.

But that was just the beginning of the 'fun' surprises I had in store.

I immediately reached out to customer support as soon as I got home! If only I'd been able to get past the useless chatbot and actually talk to a human operator. The operator, of course, didn't explain anything clearly and just made me wait for a response from technical support.

They take ages to respond and you have to wait forever. IT'S JUST TERRIBLE.

Eventually, I'd had enough of waiting and decided to give the customer support team a call on their toll-free number 8-800. It's free, which is a nice touch.

Even the operator answering the phone took their sweet time responding! And when they did, they were just as clueless as the chatbots. They had no idea what was going on, couldn't even make an educated guess. 'Your card is activated, but we have no idea why it's not working.' Yeah, that really helped calm me down.

I was starting to get frustrated and worried that I'd never be able to resolve the issue. I mean, what was I supposed to do? Transfer money with a huge commission? Ugh, my mood was ruined.

Customer support just told me to wait for 2 days and they'd get back to me. Oh joy. And, of course, they'd send me an email. I was expecting a lot more than just empty promises.

But then I decided to take a closer look at the SVV code on my card and compare it to the SVV code in my account. Guess what? They were completely different. Whoops. Suddenly everything made sense. My card was just a dud, and it was clear that it wasn't my fault. But, of course, no one apologized or even acknowledged the issue.

So, customer support just decided to send me a brand new card for free, which I had to wait another two weeks for.

And then, of course, the new card arrived, and I had to stand in line again, only this time it was even longer. It was just getting ridiculous.

I got home, activated the card, swapped out the old one, checked the CVV code, which matched perfectly, and decided to give it another go.

And guess what? It still didn't work. I was getting pretty frustrated and annoyed by this point. This time, things were a bit different from the last attempt. When I inserted the card into the ATM, I could choose the 'withdraw cash' option after entering my PIN, but it still wouldn't go through.

I was fed up and started ringing the customer support and writing to them. I was at my wit's end, and my anger was starting to get the better of me. But, as usual, they responded like robots and claimed they didn't know anything about it. This time, though, they said they could see all the failed transactions, which was a bit of a mixed bag.

And, as an afterthought... I was able to pay with the card on their website. That just made things worse. There aren't any YuMoney points in our city, so it's not like I have many options. I'm not sure what to do in this situation.

I demanded that they resolve the issue ASAP, since this was the second time it had happened. The support team on their website said my request was a priority. Yeah, right! I still didn't hear back from them by the end of the day. To make matters worse, I asked them to call me, but they said I had to wait for an email... what a mess!

I have to admit, the wait for a call was way longer than the response time for an email, which they didn't bother to mention. If they had told me, I wouldn't have asked for a call, since I needed to resolve the issue ASAP. Time was of the essence, and I needed the money for a doctor's visit, so panic set in.

It wasn't until the next day that I saw an email from customer support in my inbox. But before that, I had submitted a complaint on their website about the slow response time. They informed me that there were technical issues the previous day. Nice, huh? Technical issues, and they had no idea. What's going on with that?

But I was glad to see that at least one of the operators had some sense of responsibility. He explained the cause of the issue and apologized to me. I've never seen YuMoney apologize before.

Of course, I wasn't about to risk my card anymore. I rushed to the ATM to withdraw some cash and took out 10,000 rubles. I didn't even feel relieved, since I'd spent so much emotional energy.

Back to the card's reliability...

After all was said and done, I was able to withdraw cash and use the card for payments as promised. It seemed like everything was okay, but there's still cause for concern. Every time I try to pay with it, I get the jitters. What if there are more technical issues? So, in my book, the card has proven itself to be extremely unreliable. Although, thankfully, there haven't been any other incidents since then.

And where's my cashback?

For some reason, when I got the second card, the data about getting cashback just vanished. The offer to spend 15,000 rubles for a 500-bonus cashback became invalid. Although it wasn't my fault, the card manufacturers should've given me the chance to get this bonus, but they didn't.

I was about to write to customer support, but I just didn't feel like dealing with them anymore.

Pros and cons:

There might be technical issues;Support is incompetent and unhelpful;Help takes forever;You can still pay with the card;They'll help you in case of unexpected situations;You can withdraw cash without any fees;It's just a regular debit card.What can we conclude?

The card is unreliable. I ordered it to avoid interest, but in the end, I was disappointed, even though I managed to achieve my goal. In real life, I wouldn't order it if I didn't need it. I've lost trust in YuMoney, and I wouldn't recommend this card, even though it would've been a great purchase if these incidents hadn't happened.

Odds are, you'll encounter some unpleasant situations if you order this card. So, it's up to you – order it or not. If you do decide to get it, be prepared for some hassle.

Thanks for reading!

Other reviews:

History of deposits in East Express BankMy horrifying story of OTP Bank closing my installment planSimilar unpleasant experience with Mail.Ru

YooMoney Debit Card

A Cautionary Tale: My Disappointing Experience with Yandex Money

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