Payoneer, a worldwide payment platform mostly used by digital professionals and freelancers, for users of Pakistan they recently introduced a 3% withdrawal fee, which has a strong impact. This modification has raised important concerns among the country’s growing freelance communities, which depend strongly on the platform for their foreign transactions.

3% Fee by Payoneer for Pakistan’s Users

With the new fee structure policy, withdrawals of payment from Payoneer accounts to non-local currency bank accounts, such as USD, EUR, or GBP, are now focused on a flat 3% fee, demonstrating a 50% increase from the earlier 2% rate. Third-party bank transfers, in the past, which were partially free, now transfer the same flat 3% fee irrespective of the currency elaborate.

Furthermore, things that are affected between payoneer account is internal transfer: payments in USD, EUR, or GBP now suffer a 0.60% fee for amounts beyond 500 units, and a flat charge of 3.00 in the individual currency for minor transfers. Receiving of payments is also not free; $1 charge will apply on dollar trandfer under 100$, and 1% fee apply on those that over 100 $.

The timing of this fee hike is generally challenging, as Pakistan’s digital economy continues to grow despite economic insecurity and currency instability. Many freelancers, who mainly depend abroad earning of the dollar, express tension & anger over the lack of preceding notification and transparency around the new decision.

In recent date, Payoneer has not issued an official statement that show the backlash or explaining the justification behind the increase of fee payment . Workers are counselled to analyse the updated “Fees” section in their Payoneer accounts to judge how the transaction are affected from the changings.

The outline of these fees has started discussions among Pakistani freelancers about how to find alternative payment method and solutions of this problem to lessen the effect on their earnings.