There Could Be No FREE Debit Card

Should be more careful with your own expectations, that's why I thought after reading the User Guide from the e-toll card mandiri prabayar.

mandiri prabayar e-toll card

It was a couple of days ago when this guy hawked the card before Tomang toll gate and waving the Rp. 50,000.- signage. I rolled down the window and asked him how much is in the card. He said that the card's price is fifty thousand rupiahs and the card was preloaded with fifty thousand rupiahs too.



Oh my, I thought back then. A FREE card! I'd better buy it!

And so I did.

But later to my own dismay, in the small letters in the User Guide leaflet that came with the package, it stated that the minimum amount to be left in the card was ten thousand rupiahs. That means the cost for the card issuer (include profit margin) is around USD 1.- which I unknowingly paid!

What?!? That means even if the card was preloaded with IDR 50,000.- the maximum amount that I can spend would only be forty thousand rupiahs! Even if I'm able to use all forty thousand rupiahs (which would be very unlikely) and never reload the card, it still keeps my ten thousand rupiah for as long as the card was active!

So the card is actually cost me ten thousand rupiahs! Damn it! I hate hidden cost of anything. That felt like being cheated, although I should know better.