Note: The $500 minimum does not apply to funding your account by credit card!
We had to move to a $500 minimum for account funding (e-transfers, wire transfers, bank transfers, and cheque) in order to keep Guusto a free platform for all our customers.
We've invested millions of dollars to build the platform and the only way we earn money is through a commission, which can be as low as 1% (e.g. Walmart), from the merchants on any gift cards sold.
From those earnings (which could be $5 on a $500 transfer), we have to cover the administrative cost for someone to process the transfer, 2 separate people to sign off on funding the account, and then a bookkeeper to reconcile the transaction at the end of the month.
As such, if we accepted lower account funding transfers via the methods mentioned above, we would potentially be losing money on the transaction.
Of course, the credit card options always exists for lower transaction amounts as it automates all the administrative work. While nobody likes paying the 3% + $0.30 fee from the processor (we don't keep the fees), it is still a pretty great value considering the platform is completely free to use :)
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