Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, has announced an extension of their Sasuza Visa consumer education campaign that aims to eliminate the practice of surcharging, where merchants levy extra charges on payments made using debit or credit cards at a Point of Sale (POS).
The campaign aims at changing consumer behavior to adopt cards as a form of payment by providing consumer education on the use of Visa cards at point of sale and online. VISA has partnered with Uganda Bankers Association to increase awareness about no merchant surcharging as Ugandans continue to pay with Visa.
‘Sasuza Visa’ now in its second phase, was first launched a few months back at a time when the country had just started battling with the novel Coronavirus pandemic with an aim of encouraging Ugandans to protect themselves by practicing cashless payments, physical distancing and good hygiene practices.
Commenting about the campaign extension, Visa Uganda Country Lead Salma Ingabire expressed her excitement at partnering with these credible entities to amplify the no merchant surcharging message while giving back to VISA users in Uganda.
“Our partners connect more than 61 million merchant locations across the globe and with them, we have been able to positively impact businesses across the country and the globe. I am honored to add Game Stores and Uganda Bankers Association to this list of partners as we continue to help businesses recover after the pandemic,” she noted.
“As we extend the Sasuza Visa campaign, we call upon Ugandans to remember to transact using Visa and not incur any additional charges,” Ingabire added.
Ms. Patricia Amito, the Head Communications and Corporate Affairs at Uganda Bankers Association welcomed the extension of the Sasuza Visa campaign.
“Uganda Bankers Association is happy to work with Visa as we continue to foster financial inclusion and deepen the financial infrastructure in Uganda. Through this campaign, we will continue to teach consumers about the benefits of transacting using their cards and eliminating the assumption that it is more expensive,” she noted.
Approximately a year ago, Bank of Uganda announced that extra charges were illegal and traders should stop levying them. According to the Central Bank, no business owner should set a minimum or maximum amount as a condition to using electronic card payments.
