Many South Africans who have a SASSA card normally withdraw their cash at a post office, supermarket or ATM, but what happens if they want to make a purchase with that card in your store?

If you have a customer base consisting of pensioners, single parents or low-income households, consider getting a card machine that can accept SASSA cards for in-store purchases.

Not all card machines are able to accept certain cards such as SASSA, Amex or Diners Club cards, that is why you need to be sure your card machine has the capability to swipe the type of cards your client base uses the most.

Where can SASSA cards be used?

A Customer can swipe their SASSA card for in-store purchases if a store has a card machine activated for those types of cards. Swipes are free of commission. The cardholder, therefore, receives the full value of the grant and can be used to withdraw cash at all ATMs in South Africa.

What are SASSA cards?

A SASSA Account is linked to a Debit Card which enables cardholders to transact electronically. This SASSA account is restricted to the payment of Social Assistance and other Social Security Related Benefits.

Who benefits from SASSA?

The Care dependency SASSA grant pays out to parents, primary caregivers, pensioners or foster parents living in South Africa, earning less than R180,000 per annum (+/-R15,000 pm) if single or R360,000 (+/-R30,000 pm) if living with a spouse. The current SASSA grant amount is R1,500 a month per child.

The amount allocated for each grant varies for pensioners. Currently, if you are between 60-74 years old, you are granted a maximum amount of R1980 pm. Someone older than 75 years will get R2000 pm as per info found on https://www.gov.za/services/social-benefits-retirement-and-old-age/old-age-pension

Which card machines can accept SASSA cards?

WAPPoint has two types of PrintPOS card machines that can accept SASSA cards as well as Amex and Diners Club cards. Please be sure to mention which capabilities your device requires when speaking to our sales experts as they will advise which card machines have these options and request activation. Even though we have various types of PrintPOS devices with different functionalities, all our PrintPOS card machines are at the same rate as viewed here: https://wappoint.co.za/PrintPOS/

Resources: https://www.gov.za/ | https://www.careersportal.co.za/