Having trouble signing up for Yoomoney account

marcelapa10

Leaving for Russia in less than 2 weeks. Really want a digital/virtual Yoomoney MIR card set up before arrival.

Neither the Yoomoney website nor app are allowing me to sign up/open a digital wallet. I either get "error" message when trying to open a wallet after entering my US phone number. Or a "lost connection" message when trying to sign up with my US phone number. I have been unable to contact their support either. Either brings me to a page all in Russian or to their automated chat which has been useless.

Please help!
Thank you,
Mpa

Anyone with any tips?

Jabod

Have your tried emailing their customer support? I know you have tried to use chat and the website to contact support but I think a direct email would be simplest. They are quite used to getting messages in English (and actually request this on their website). This is the address to use: support@yoomoney.ru

Another reason I suggest this is because there is a discussion here where one guy says "Send the help desk an email. It was fixed for me in 1 hour."

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/1n3cmkb/is_it_possible_to_create_a_yoomoney_account_from/

Based on information online (summarized by Google AI), there is a common problem where many foreign phone numbers are automatically blocked, but customer support can manually unblock the number for you.

Personally, I did not encounter any problem receiving codes from YooMoney via SMS to my international phone number, but I have found that I am unable to receive emails into my Outlook email from many Russian senders. Though, curiously, this does not include YooMoney, whose various emails reach me fine.

So if you email support but don't get any reply, it may be that your email is blocking messages from Russia. One way to get round that is to set up a Russian email account. This can be done for free through mail.ru, where you can select English as the set-up language.

marcelapa10

Thank you, I will try their email address and report back how it went.
Mpa

marcelapa10

marcelapa10
The email address for support did solve everything so that I now have a virtual card from YooMoney. It took several days of back and forth emails but goal achieved, even from the US. I don't think it would have been possible without help from YooMoney support, as I came against road blocks at almost every step.

Now I asked customer support how to load the card with either a foreign Visa card (which I saw the option noted as not currently available) or whether there is a different option.

At the very least I can load it from within Russia at an ATM with rubles. Or that's what I'm reading here.

Thanks for the email address.
Mpa

Jabod

marcelapa10 step.

Now I asked customer support how to load the card with either a foreign Visa card (which I saw the option noted as not currently available) or whether there is a different option.

In her recent guide to this, Irena said she was able to get money onto her Yoomoney card using Volet. So you might look into that.
https://russiable.com/get-russian-bank-card/

However, I think Volet works by sending cryptocurrency, and all this has lately become a lot more complex: both the EU and Russia have recently passed new laws aimed at stifling cryptocurrency transactions.

Personally, I have found my Yoomoney card extremely useful, but I did not face the setup problems you faced. I was also lucky enough to have a pre-existing Russian bank account to fund it from.

I think there is a growing problem in recent months where many phone calls and text messages from Russia are being automatically blocked by Western telcos, which assume they are malicious or spam. For example, I have lately had extreme problems getting into an Ozon account linked to my international phone number (the automated calls that Ozon sends with the verification codes simply don't arrive). I also found it impossible to set up a Yandex account for similar reasons.

So I also agree with Cal that it is worth the effort to get a SNILS and a Russian phone number. As well as allowing you to open a bank account, a Russian phone number is now essential to log in to the majority of public wifi networks.

Cal

Yoomoney has been a disappointment for me. I got rid of it.

My suggestion - do the legwork and get a translation of your US passport, a SNILS, and then while in Russia get a Russian phone number and a Russian bank account. T-mobile (formerly Tinkoff) will even come to your hotel.

Anyone can apply for SNILS. I had a lawyer get mine for me, while I was in USA.

Jabod

Cal Anyone can apply for SNILS. I had a lawyer get mine for me, while I was in USA.

I've read that TMobile will even get a SNILS number for you. Apparently, this is because of a corporate relationship that TBank has with the social security office. So I think you could have asked TMobile to handle this without asking a lawyer in the US to get one for you.

Personally, I already had a SNILS number, from working in Russia years ago. But I still needed to go to an MFC office to link this old number to my current passport.

KO______

Jabod When I left StP a few months ago, TBank had a booth in the airport and they did say they can do everything right there, including the SNILS process.

Cal

Jabod

I didn't use a lawyer in the US to get my SNILS for me. I should have clarified better. I used a lawyer in Russia to get my SNILS for me, while I remained in the US. So I couldn't use TBank to get the SNILS because I was not in Russia at the time.

marcelapa10

I was successful in setting up my virtual MIR card from the US, with help from YooMoney Support. I got stuck at almost every step, but they always helped and I was able to get the virtual MIR card and add it to MIR pay app.

When I arrived in Petersburg, I exchanged my USD to Rubles. Then was able to deposit the rubles into my MIR pay account at a Sberbank ATM using virtual tap through my phone and entering my password (which yes, support had to tell me where to create it.)

It works brilliantly! Eases my mind not having to carry a bunch of cash around.

Before I leave Russia, I will withdraw all my funds at the ATM, convert them back to USD and voila.

MPA

Jabod

marcelapa10 Before I leave Russia, I will withdraw all my funds at the ATM, convert them back to USD and voila.

If you plan to do this, you should look into the fees for cash withdrawals. There is a standard fee of 3%, which would be painful if you are withdrawing a lot of cash.

But note that there is an option within the app (or your online YooMoney account), which allows you to raise the fee-free withdrawal limit to 15,000 roubles. You need to click on your profile in the top left, click on "Get More - Manage your limits" and then choose "More Cash". This involves paying a small monthly subscription fee (69 roubles), but that is insignificant compared to 3% of the withdrawal if you are withdrawing a lot of cash.

And also remember to untick "auto-renewal", which is the default option (once you have paid the subscription for the first month it still remains valid for a month). If you forget to untick "auto-renewal", YooMoney will deduct 69 roubles from your account each month!

Jabod

I think it is specifically TMobile customers (rather than general T-Bank customers) who can get a SNILS by signing up.

Either way, I would not recommend this option. In recent days, T-Bank has been freezing the accounts of its western retail clients, because of a decree that Putin enacted at the start of the month. The decree applies to all banks, but T-Bank has been enforcing it most aggressively, having previously marketed its products to foreign retail clients.

Tsar_Vlad

I have experienced the same problem, i started having problem with Yoomoney and decided to try PayInRussia, a friend of mine said it works well.
So, after the registration i top up my balance and I was able to pay restaurants, museums, hotels and different services like Uber or YGo, basically you have the same advantage of having a national Russian bank account because you have all the card details you need for online payments.

Jabod

Following on from my last post, one of the issues I have found with using a YooMoney card in practice is that it can be quite costly to withdraw large amounts from the card. As well as the limit on fee-free cash withdrawals at ATMs, there is a also a 3500-rouble a day limit on fee-free transfers to other bank accounts.

So anyone looking to use a YooMoney card should be careful to avoid placing too much money on it (i.e. money significantly in excess of what they are likely to spend on the card). But, as mentioned, one can raise the monthly ATM withdrawal limit to 15,000 roubles (using the "More Cash" option), which provides one way to deal with any leftover funds.

Tsar_Vlad

That's the hole point of why i suggest to use PayinRussia... there are no monthly subscription like YooMoney, if you need more money up to 600.000 rubles you can choose another plan, you just need to identify with a document like a passport and you are done... two minutes for top up your PiR balance from your favorite foreign bank and that's it!

Jabod

Tsar_Vlad The PayinRussia website says the following:

"Cash withdrawals are not available at this time. We recommend estimating your travel expenses before loading your PayInRussia balance. We also advise using the top-up option—this allows you to add money as needed, without excess amounts. Top-ups are instant and can be easily made through the app.
If you have funds remaining on your account when you leave Russia, your balance will remain available and can be used during your next visit within the validity period indicated in the app (thestandard validity period is 30 days from the first day of next month of cardexpiration date)."

So it would appear that in this respect, at least, PayinRussia is not a good option and inferior to YooMoney.

There is no monthly subscription for YooMoney, only for the "More Cash" option that enables
ATM withdrawals up to 15,000 roubles per month (if you turn off auto-renewal it is in practice a small one-off payment rather than a monthly subscription).

While it may be possible to transfer funds from a Western bank to PayinRussia at present, I would not count on this being possible permanently or consistently. (Look into who owns PayinRussia and whether they are on the international sanctions list). Other apps that have claimed to allow money transfers to Russia have often stopped working eventually.

To be clear, I am not advocating one of these products over another, just being clear about potential pluses and minuses for anyone thinking of using them.

Tsar_Vlad

If you are lost in a desert and somebody gives you water, would you ask whether it’s still or tap?
I mean, you can only use what it’s working… the point is, as I said, I used Yoomoney and my personal experience was not good for different reasons.
Also, the major thing now is that YM has stopped working. I was in Russia last month and I wasn’t able to top up my balance, so I reached out to support and they did nothing about it! (They probably stopped working as you said for other similar services)

Then a friend of mine told me about PayInRussia, and he saved my stay.
You also mention the fact that cash withdrawals are not available, personally it’s a plus you don’t really need, bevause for everything you can pay by using the QR code, and if you need to but something online you can just put your card details on that site, same with services like Yandex Go.

Hope this helps