WestStein Frequently Asked Questions

The WestStein prepaid Mastercard for business is an international payment card with an account abroad that is attached to a company’s e-wallet instead of its main bank account. Combining all the traditional functions of payment cards, this card is especially intended for small and medium-size companies to monitor their expenses, for instance, business travel or representation expenses, and other advance payments.

WestStein offers two types of solutions for efficient expenditure management: WestStein prepaid Mastercard expense cards and WestStein prepaid Mastercard salary cards.

Custom-designed to meet the needs of clients, these prepaid cards can also be used for loyalty programmes, bonuses and as gift cards. This way, you can issue them to your clients, partners or employees on behalf of your company. To learn more about how these cards can be custom-designed, please contact the WestStein Sales department by mail [email protected].

Here are some of the benefits a company can receive from using a WestStein prepaid Mastercard for expenses:

• Security – the card is not attached to a company’s main bank account, so it can be used only as long as there is cash on it. The Mastercard licence and 3D Secure system guarantee additional safety and high quality standards.
• Convenient transfers – a transfer from a company’s e-wallet to an individual card account takes a couple of minutes. In addition, SEPA payments can be made from the card account.
• Lower fees than for traditional cards – for instance, for maintaining an account; in addition, cash withdrawals in the eurozone, regardless of whether the ATM used belongs to any specific bank group, can be made for a fixed fee of EUR 2.50.
• Real-time, online monitoring of payments – monitor all employee expenditures in one place, while simultaneously being able to restrict certain types of transactions, and being sure that funds are used for their proper purpose.
• Less paper, more efficient processes – when issuing WestStein prepaid Mastercard cards to your employees, you will have fewer applications and reports to deal with, and you will not need to give cash to your employees or transfer it to their private bank accounts.
• Simpler reporting – accountants can easily import data into their accounting programme, thus saving time and money required to register documents from separate transactions, while also reducing the possibility of errors.

The issuer of WestStein prepaid Mastercard international payment cards is Prepaid Financial Services Ltd. (PFS). The services offered by a WestStein prepaid Mastercard international payment card are provided by using the PFS payment system when opening an e-wallet at Irish Allied Banks, p.l.c., registered in Ireland. This is a bank with 50 years of experience that provides a wide range of banking services in Great Britain and internationally.

Each card issued to a company is attached to a specific company e-wallet. This way, a company can monitor both the e-wallet balance and the balances and payments of all cards in a centralised manner. The e-wallet and, correspondingly, the company payment cards are fully independent of the company’s main account.

One clear example is the issuing of prepayment funds to a company’s employees for the purchase of gifts, flowers, payment for lunches with clients, etc.
Currently, to request a prepayment, an employee usually submits an application that is initialled by the company head, who, based on this document, gives an order to the accountant to issue the requested funds. These funds are usually issued in cash or transferred to the employee’s private account. It should be noted that companies cannot currently monitor the usage of these funds.
To report on the usage of the received funds, an employee must make a report and attach documents confirming each purchase. When payments are made by bank transfers, printouts from one’s private account must be submitted. An accountant must manually enter each document and calculate the balance or consumption.

When a company uses the WestStein prepaid Mastercard for business, everything is made simpler. Only a certain amount of preparation work must be carried out. A company must determine the order for making prepayments and for the usage of prepaid cards for this process. In addition, a number of individuals who are authorised to use these cards must be determined, and it needs to be established that the prepaid card account statement will serve as the prepayment report.
After that, employees are issued a WestStein prepaid Mastercard for business for prepayment expenses, and, after using it, employees must submit documents confirming payments to the company’s accountant. The accountant imports the card transaction data into their accounting programme as one entry, when required, prints each card’s account statement, and attaches the payment confirmation documents, but it is no longer required that each document be entered separately.
It is possible to determine from the card account statement how much has been spent, where payments were made and what they were made for. When required, the amount of withdrawals can be limited, as can locations where payments can be made.

Currently, the available currency is EUR.

For a company to apply for a card, an application form must first be completed on WestStein’s website www.weststeincard.com. In the application, basic information about your company and the required number and form of cards must be provided.
A WestStein corporate client sales consultant will contact you, prepare an individual offer and send it to you for your consideration.
Having reached an agreement about the transaction terms and conditions, the corporate client sales manager will ask you to submit the necessary documents in conformity with the relevant laws and regulations, the procedure for the prevention of money laundering and the Know Your Business procedure.
Following verification and confirmation of these documents, the card issuer, PFS, will open an e-wallet for the company within 24 hours.
The requested payment cards will be delivered to the company within seven days. In addition, access to the corporate client portal will be provided, as will training for users of the client portal.

To open an e-wallet and receive payment cards for your company’s needs, the following information is required:

• Information on the purpose of the prepaid cards
  • Who the cards will be issued to: employees, partners or clients
  • The place of permanent residence of those receiving the cards
  • The cash-flow scheme
  • Anticipated transactions on the part of the card users
  • Contact information for the individuals responsible for the prepaid-cards programme
  • Desirable special conditions (ATM use and blocked categories of traders)
  • Personal identification documents of the company’s directors
• Personal identification documents of the company’s shareholders (holding a 25% stake or greater) – the true beneficiaries
• A copy of the company’s registration certificate
• The company’s latest annual report or 3-6 months of bank statements for newly established companies

Following verification and approval of the documents submitted by a client, the cards are prepared within seven days.

A company can apply for an unlimited number of cards. Moreover, we are flexible in our pricing offer. The more cards you order, the lower the price for card.

Information about a payment card’s IBAN is available both on the corporate client portal and on the card’s user portal.

Each WestStein prepaid Mastercard payment card holder is free to use its funds within the framework of the determined limits. More information on the limits can be found in Pricing section.

A company transfers funds from its main bank account or a partner’s account to the company’s e-wallet. The required payment details are issued when cooperation gets under way.
Payments are made in SEPA and SWIFT payment systems.

A WestStein prepaid Mastercard business card account can be loaded in two ways:

• By making a transfer from the company’s e-wallet to the card account. The funds will be received on the card within a few minutes.
• By purchasing a voucher at any Narvesen POS in Latvia, then loading the card account by registering the voucher code on the client’s portal. The funds will be accessible at once. This solution is especially applicable for small traders who do not use a cash collection service, but who need to transfer received funds to a bank account at the end of the day (they do not need to look for an ATM or bank branches, it is sufficient to find the nearest Narvesen).

With a WestStein prepaid Mastercard, you can pay at any point of sale where the Mastercard acceptance mark is displayed, and there are over 35 million such points in the world. You can withdraw cash from over 2 million ATMs worldwide where the Mastercard acceptance mark is displayed.

No, from the e-wallet, transfers can only be made to WestStein prepaid cards.

Yes, you can transfer money from one WestStein card to another, and you can also make SEPA payments in EUR within the borders of the European Economic Area (to the 28 EU member states, as well as to Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco).
A transfer from one WestStein prepaid Mastercard to another is performed within a couple of minutes. SEPA payments are made within two banking days.

Yes. You can make transfers in EUR in accordance with the daily spending limits of your WestStein payment cards and account. Payments are performed fast, without the use of intermediary banks. For SEPA transfers from one’s WestStein account to European Union countries, as well as Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco, when the payee’s IBAN account and the receiving bank’s BIC code are provided in the payment order, no receiving bank fee has to be paid – there is only one fixed fee for the transfer, which is EUR 0.55.

Yes, you can shop online with WestStein.

If you are a non-verified client, you can shop online in EU countries only. If you are verified client you can make online purchases worldwide. All online purchases are secured against fraud with Mastercard 3D secure system.

Booking is possible if payment is made immediately. If, however, a certain amount of funds is required to guarantee a reservation, then a credit card will be needed.

The e-wallet is managed through the client portal, which the company will be given access to as soon as an agreement on cooperation is reached. The portal provides access to all of the e-wallets that a company is using, as well as all the cards issued to the company, including their balances and transactions performed; when required, they can also be blocked or unblocked.
The individual card user can manage their own card (see the IBAN account number, PIN code, balance, make payments, etc.) on the individual client portal.

Reports can be downloaded in CSV format.

If access to your internet bank is blocked, please contact WestStein client service specialists on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EET by e-mail [email protected].

Please contact our customer support team sending an email to [email protected].

You can send your PIN code to your mobile phone via SMS. Please log into your online banking system here https://my.weststeincard.com/?locale=en, go to section Cards and send your PIN to your phone number.

If access to your internet bank is blocked, please contact WestStein client service specialists on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EET  by e-mail [email protected].

You have to take two steps.

1. Immediately call the client service department of the card’s issuer, PFS, on +44 (0) 2071275093, and request, in English, that the card be blocked.
2. Write an e-mail to [email protected], providing your first name, surname, the card number (it can be found on the client portal), as well as the approximate time when the card was lost or stolen. WestStein client service will contact you as soon as possible (on weekdays and during working hours) to agree about the next steps.

To activate your card in Mastercard 3D Secure system please press here: https://pfs.cardinalcommerce.com/cardservices/Default.aspx and register your card. If you need help in card registration, please contact our customer support team by  an e-mail to [email protected].

You can receive your PIN code to your mobile phone via SMS. In order to receive PIN please log in into your online bank ( https://my.weststeincard.com/auth/login ) and go to the section Cards. There you will find option to send PIN on your phone.