Paytm users to pay 2% charge on using credit cards to top up wallets

Paytm users will have to pay a 2 percent fee on the amount added to their e-wallet using a credit card.

Until now, users had to pay 2 percent fee if they loaded more than Rs 10,000 in their e-wallets via credit card in a month. A message saying "Nominal charge of 2 percent is applicable on adding money using credit card. Nominal fee is applicable since we pay high charges to your bank/payment network when you add money using a credit card. Please use UPI or debit card to add money for free" is displayed when customers attempt to add money to their Paytm wallet via a credit card.

Paytm is also providing an offer, wherein users will get 2 per cent cashback up to Rs 200 on adding minimum Rs 50 using credit card, as per the message. When contacted, a Paytm Payments Bank spokesperson said customers have the flexibility to add money to their Paytm wallet from any of their preferred funding source, including UPI, net banking and cards.

"The banks and credit card companies charge a fee for loading money into the Paytm wallet from any of these sources. The 2 percent charge is passed on to customers, who use credit cards for adding funds to their wallet. For all other sources, we will continue to absorb the cost of loading money," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson further said the company has temporarily waived the 5 percent charge that is levied on money transfer from wallet to bank accounts as a promotional offer for the festive season.

"The amount added in the wallet can be used to transfer money to another wallet or bank account, to make payments to online and offline merchants via QR codes, to process bill payments, do recharges and multiple other forms of transactions. All such transactions will also continue to be free of cost for our customers," the spokesperson said. In 2017, Paytm had introduced a similar fee on amounts added to wallet via credit cards, but had rolled back the decision after pressure from users.

At that time, Paytm had said the fee was aimed at curbing misuse of its platform to transfer interest-free credit card funds to bank accounts of users at zero transaction cost.