Complete Overview of the FasaPay Payment System
Payment system FasaPay offers extensive functionality for money transfers,mostly in USD. They support a myriad of international banks.
Advantageously,deposits, transfers, and withdrawals can be done relatively fast and with lowcommissions. FasaPay offers both personal and merchant accounts (for businessesand companies), with the latter given a certain preference. The service isn'tlimited to Southeast Asia, although most of its customers are from there.
Background
FasaPay wasfounded in 2010 in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur. For several years, theyoffered low-scale financial services to customers from Malaysia, Indonesia, andSingapore. It's still a relatively undiscovered service, but its low fees andfast transfer time make it gradually more popular.
In recentyears, FasaPay started to expand beyond just being a local provider inSoutheast Asia. The system favors USD payments. They've attracted the supportof numerous American banks in previous years, meaning that nothing reallyprevents international users from using this functionality.
That beingsaid, FasaPay explicitly forbids Canadian and American users from using theirfunctionality, which is strange considering that USD is one of several maincurrencies supported by the website. It is technically possible, however, tocreate an account from any place in the world, provided you have an accountwith one of the supported banks.
Main Features
FasaPayoffers simple functionality, which is beneficial in some ways and somewhat disappointingin other aspects.
The threebig features are deposits, transfers, and withdrawals. There isn't much else todo on FasaPay, although these three have some nuance to them, as well. Besidesthese actions, the users are able to view transaction history, hold balances inseveral currencies, and more. Some features are exclusive to verified users.
The depositsfeature deals with adding funds to the account. It can be done through aregular bank transfer, a payment gateway of choice (several providers fromSoutheast Asia are available, as well as international platforms), or throughMaster Changer, which is an exchange company cooperating closely with FasaPay,and a whole other topic.
Fortransfers, the user will be able to choose the recipient of their transactions,the currency, the type of commission, the amount, and add a note. The transfersare done between two different accounts, and a personal identification number (forexample, FP12034) is used to designate the recipient.
Thewithdrawals are done in a manner similar to the deposits function, except onlybank transfers and Master Changer transactions are available. Note thatwithdrawals are only open for verified users; simply registering on FasaPay isnot enough. You also need to confirm your identity.
Registration and Verification
The FasaPayregistration process is relatively simple. It requires the users to submittheir full name and email, create a password, and add some personal details.This procedure can be done within minutes, and you'll be able to use the systemto a limited degree. To unlock all the features, you'd need a verified account.
A verifiedaccount is essentially an upgraded version of a regular account. Theverification procedure here is the same type of KYC function as in many otherfinancially-oriented services, such as payment systems, casino providers, stockexchanges, and others.
Somefeatures, as mentioned, are unavailable to regular registered users. Thatincludes withdrawals and deposits using bank transfers. It is important, butthere aren't many advantages to upgrading your account besides these two majorfunctions. The commissions don't decrease, either.
Verificationis done by providing a billing statement with your name on it. They essentiallyrequire a receipt from a bank, a utility payment, and any other similar document.They say it takes up to 3 days to process this information, but it can belonger than that.
Commissions and Fees
One of thechief benefits of working with FasaPay is their low commissions on transfersand withdrawals. In fact, practically everything, aside from transfers, is freeon this website. The existing commissions, meanwhile, are incrediblyinsignificant, especially compared to other international payment systems.
Note,however, that it's impossible to deposit and withdraw money using banktransfers until you've verified your account, which makes payments impossiblefor a large portion of users. Transfers, meanwhile, are possible for 'active'users, but since deposits are only available through payment gateways andMaster Changer, the 'active' bit is irrelevant.
Thedeposits and withdrawals are free, except for bank commissions. Meanwhile, thetransfers between accounts charge a fee of 0.5%, which is minuscule. PayPal, incomparison, charges at least 2.99% for their transfers and up to 5% forinternational transfers. On FasaPay, the rate is fixed at just 0.5%.
Limits, Currencies, and Supported Banks
The limitson FasaPay may be disadvantageous. The minimal amounts for deposit andwithdrawal transactions are $1,000, which fits their association with merchantsand businesses. The maximum transactions are $75,000 and $10,000 for deposits andwithdrawals respectively.
At the sametime, you can make transfers of as little as $0.10, whereas the maximum amountis $25,000. The high limits are lower for 'active' users, but you won't spendmuch time at this stage, so it's once again irrelevant. The amounts are specifiedfor verified users.
Thecurrencies supported by the website include USD and IDR (the Indonesianrupiah). The commissions are comparable, although the fees are presented in theUSD equivalent.
Thesupported banks include 45 companies, including many international providers,such as HDFC, Citi Bank, and others. There are also many local banks fromIndonesia, India, Malaysia, and many other countries in the region.Technically, you can create an account from any place in the world, but thepractical use can be limited via supported banks.
