Wallets Africa bills itself as a service that lets individuals and businesses create and manage online accounts for processing payments across Africa. But due to the various negative user reviews we found about Wallet Africa, we can’t recommend the service for any payment purposes.

On Twitter, several people have condemned Wallets Africa, especially with one of them describing it as “one of the greatest scammers in Fintech.” So, rather than stick to Wallet Africa, safety-conscious people would likely switch to alternative payment solutions that should serve the purposes one might want to achieve with Wallet Africa.

Since Wallets Africa is an Africa-focused cross-border payment processor, we’d like to recommend the 10 best alternative payment services that are either fully focused on Africa or that cater to a reasonable population of African customers.

What Are the Top 10 Alternatives to Wallets Africa in 2023?

1.Chipper Cash

Chipper Cash is an app-based service that allows users to perform cross-border transactions involving online payments, fund transfers, etc. This app is vastly popular for its ability to perform cross-border transactions between supported African countries without imposing any transaction fees on users of the app.

One of the interesting things about Chipper Cash is that it lets you transfer money to a beneficiary who isn’t using the app. How this works is that Chipper Cash notifies the beneficiary via a text message indicating that they have received money from you. Viewing the message, the beneficiary will find the details of the transferred amount as well as the download link for the Chipper Cash app.

The beneficiary will then have to download the Chipper Cash app and open an account. While signing up for the account, it’s necessary for the beneficiary to use the exact phone number through which they received the text message confirming the received fund. After creating the account, the beneficiary can log in to it and view their Chipper Cash wallet to see the received fund.

Another beneficial feature of Chipper Cash is its compatibility with various mobile money services, specifically those in Chipper Cash-supported African countries. Mpesa, MTN and Airtel Money are just some of the mobile money services you can link to your Chipper Cash account.

For the fact that Chipper Cash supports mobile money services, it is very convenient for Chipper Cash users to connect their mobile money accounts with Chipper Cash and transfer/receive funds between Chipper Cash and the various money accounts.

Chipper Cash is a popular app-based service supported in many African countries including Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, and Tanzania.

2.Barter

Barter is a money transfer service developed by Flutterwave. It offers a virtual (dollar) card that removes all the restrictions associated with your local debit card. Not only can it be created easily, the Barter dollar card is also a virtual payment instrument that enables you to shop online as well as send money to anyone regardless of where they are in the world.

Courtesy of the optimum security it guarantees your personal information, Flutterwave’s Barter fits into the class of well-regulated and highly recognized money transfer services. If you’re making Barter your alternative to Wallets Africa, rest assured that you’ll enjoy swift fund transfer along with high-grade security.

There’s no doubt that top-notch speed is one of the features that customers crave when it comes to fund transfer; you’ll likely deem it awkward to use a money transfer service that takes longer than a reasonable timeframe to get your funds delivered to beneficiaries. Of course, this is why Barter’s swift processing speed, in terms of fund transfer, is worth reckoning. Broadly, Barter gives you the assurance of expeditious transactions while transferring money to somebody or receiving it from them.

3.Opay

OPay is an Africa-focused payment service owned by Opera. Fully pronounced as Opera Payment, OPay is a widely used payment service across Nigeria. The popular payment service, which came into being in 2018, is very popular in Nigeria with Lagos being the epicenter of its activities.

Opay offers a mobile app which you can download from Google Play Store. Not only is the Opay app suitable for fund transfer, the app is also an intuitive platform for achieving many other purposes including:

• Accessing OLeads –a resource that lets you quickly create a website
• Accessing OKash –an avenue through which you can apply for short-term loans
• Payment of utility bills
• Accessing OWealth investment
• Funding your betting account
• Subscribing to Pay TV
• Purchasing airtime, internet data bundles, etc.
• Using QR code for receiving or sending funds
• Accessing OPay’s riding services

Just like other online payment services and/or digital banking solutions, Opay enables customers to easily fund their Opay accounts. As an Opay user, you may opt to link your debit card or withdraw the funds from your bank account. If you’d like to fund the account using your debit card, you’ll only have to link your debit card details to the account.

Another funding method, and which seems better, is to use your mobile banking app for transferring funds to your OPay account.

If you can’t use any of the two funding methods above, you might want to go with the third funding method, which requires funding your Opay account via an Opay agent that you can locate using the Nearby agents option in the Opay app.

How the method works is that you simply deposit your desired funding amount with the Opay agent and then provide your Opay number so that the deposited amount can be transferred to your wallet. Besides being an alternative for people without bank accounts, this funding method is a cost-free way in which you can get a trusted Opay agent to help transfer funds to your wallet.

If you don’t have a bank account or your bank account is currently inaccessible, this third funding method is likely the recommended funding option for your Opay account.

4.Kuda

Thanks to its digital-only nature, Kuda Bank removes the need to visit a physical bank branch for any sort of (banking) activity such as registration. Not only is Kuda a reliable and inexpensive alternative to Wallets Africa, the Nigerian digital-only bank also boasts 10,000+ branches across the country. Kuda Bank customers can make deposits at these branches without paying any kobo.

Kuda is registered under the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and it holds a duly granted microfinance banking license. With this license, it’s pretty clear that Kuda has acquired the needed accreditation for operating as a legitimate banking service in Nigeria.

Thanks to Kuda Bank’s cost-free cash withdrawal, customers can rest assured that they won’t have to bear any withdrawal charges. While this isn’t the only great thing Kuda customers should be happy about, there’s an added benefit of zero ATM maintenance fee. Nigerian banks normally impose ATM maintenance fees on their customers, but thanks to its zero ATM maintenance fee, Kuda Bank is an amazing diversion from these traditional banks.

In addition to offering free fund deposits, Kuda Bank allows for free monthly inter-bank transfers on two occasions. Kudabank account holders enjoy zero transfer charges two times on a monthly basis. What this means, in other words, is that Kuda Bank customers will not have to bear any transfer charges for their first two monthly transfers to external bank accounts.

5.Remitly

Remitly is one of the best cross-border fund transfer services that you can use in place of Wallets Africa. With Remitly, you’ll not only enjoy multi-level security for your funds, but also access the host of payment options offered by the service.

One of the perks of Remitly is that receivers are guaranteed zero fees. Senders, on their own part, would also like Remitly for its guaranty of secure and expeditious transfers at very reasonable rates. Thanks to Remitly’s global coverage, users of the money transfer service are free to send funds to or receive funds from people in more than 100 countries.

Quite interestingly, Remitly has got some added offerings that you get to enjoy on your first transfer. With that noted, Remitly is a great payment solution for individuals and businesses to execute secure fund transfers as well as monitor the transfers in real time. If you opt to use Remitly for your cross-border payment purposes, you’ll be able to access the service either as a desktop app or mobile app that you can download from the web.

6.Eversend

Eversend is one of the payment gateways that help remove the associated rigor of using traditional banks for cross-border payments. It’s a money transfer platform with a huge service presence in Africa.

Eversend lets you achieve a number of transactional purposes such as airtime purchase, fund transfer, currency exchange, and funding purchases with your virtual visa card.

Currency exchange is most likely one of the added perks of Eversend as it features a multicurrency wallet via which you can exchange various currencies including USD, KES, GHC, UGX, NGN, etc.

7.Azimo

Azimo is a user-oriented app-based payment solution that you can bank on for expeditious transfer of funds. This payment solution not only offers affordable rates, but also allows for convenient fund transfer to different destinations. With Azimo, you can easily send the USD to the bank account of your preferred beneficiary in Africa.

While Azimo supports 20+ European countries, the great perk is that people in these countries can transfer funds to beneficiaries in 190+ countries. Azimo is also compatible with mobile wallets, making it pretty easy for users to transfer funds to Hellocash, M-Pesa, etc.

Azimo further features the Azimo Business option that lets you make international invoice payments in over 60 currencies and more than 180 countries. Interestingly, you can enjoy all of Azimo’s offerings through the intuitive mobile app offered by the service.

8.Rapid Transfer

This express fund transfer platform operates in as many countries as Ecobank covers. Perhaps, it is one great payment solution targeted at customers in the 30+ African countries in which Ecobank operates. Ecobank customers who use Rapid Transfer may attest that it is a swift cross-border payment service.

Rapid Transfer is also an inexpensive option among the various Wallets Africa alternatives around. Frankly, it is one of the reliable intra-African fund transfer services. Whether you’re looking to pay your utility bills or expressly send funds to Ecobank customers, you can rest assured that Rapid Transfer is the ideal service for you. The service is also suitable for swift transfer of money to non-Ecobank customers.

9.Transfy

If you deal with lots of intra-African transfers for your individual or business needs, Transfy is most likely one of the best payment solutions for you. On the one hand, Transfy makes it convenient to execute transactions –such as sending and receiving funds –in various African countries: Nigeria, Cameroun, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Ghana.

Transfy, on the other hand, is considered one of the inexpensive Africa-focused payment gateways. With Transfy, you can also enjoy a shot at exchanging money in your African currency which could be NGN, GHC, ZAR, RWF, UGX, KES, etc.

Just like the other Wallets Africa alternatives in this post, Transfy might be the ideal payment processing service for somebody looking to pay employees, freelancers, business associates, online store operators, etc., in other African countries. With that noted, fund safety is one of the benefits of using Transfy as the service guarantees multi-factor authentication, anti-fraud protection, and bank-level encryption.

10.Wise

Wise is one of the top-rated players in the fintech sector. Among the payment solutions in this post, Wise is especially distinguished for its focus which is more global rather than merely African.

This payment solution, which was previously regarded as Transferwise, has attracted millions of users across the world. While Wise is said to have 10 million+ users, what we consider more interesting is that its user base diversely comprises freelancers, travelers, immigrants, individuals, and organizations.

With Wise, you can easily execute overseas payments at reasonable rates. You can as well perform inexpensive cash withdrawals in 200+ countries. Security-wise, Wise guarantees its customers optimum satisfaction, thanks to the 2-factor authentication offered.

Moreover, Wise guarantees expeditious transactions as customers are highly likely to have 50% of their transfers delivered in a maximum of one hour if not delivered instantly. Wise customers can exchange multiple currencies as well as hold funds in different currencies. With Wise, you can not only receive payments from almost any destination across the globe, but also transfer funds at relatively affordable rates to 80+ countries.

FAQs

What Is the Best Wallets Africa Alternative?

It’s quite hard to single out one of the options in this post and label it the best alternative to Wallets Africa. This is because each of the listed Wallets Africa alternatives comes with its pros and cons. While Wise (formerly Transferwise) and (Flutterwave’s) Barter are acclaimed for their status as global payment processors, Kuda and Opay seem like the preferable options for bill payments, fund transfers, etc., within Nigeria.

Are There Secure Wallets Africa Alternatives?

Of course, there are alternative payment solutions which guarantee high-grade security for customers’ funds. With high-level security one of the key factors for choosing payment processing services, it’s pretty advisable to pick any of these secure Wallets Africa alternatives: Wise, Transfy, Barter, Opay, and Kuda.

Conclusion

Inasmuch as we don’t recommend Wallets Africa, due to the safety concerns raised by a multitude of users, we suggest that you opt for one of the alternative payment solutions that are ideal for you.

Each of the 10 Wallets Africa alternatives we listed has got its own perks which might include zero charges (though under certain circumstances), low-cost cross-border transactions, highly secure fund transfer, and service coverage in 100+ countries.

Finally, it’s up to you to thoroughly read the features and/or offerings of the listed Wallets Africa alternatives just to figure out which is the perfect fit for you.