As you may be aware of, Epassporte is having trouble with VISA, although some sources says the problem is Epassporte’s bank SKNANB (Saint Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla National Bank Limited) which means every Epassporte cardholder is having trouble. On September 4th 2010, Chris Mallick (Epassporte CEO) sent this message, which was also posted in Epassporte site as a splash page, although now it seems to have been taken off:

From:	Christopher Mallick, Owner, ePas
To:	xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Received:	Sep 4, 2010 11:00 PM PDT
Subject:	Important – ePassporte Visa Electron/Virtual Card Suspended
	Dear ePassporte Account Holders, Please be advised that, at 12:00 PM PDT today, September 2, 2010, we were notified that effective immediately, Visa International has suspended our banking partner’s (St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank) ePassporte Visa program. The ePassporte e-Wallet program continues to be up and running, except funds cannot be transferred between your Visa Account and your e-Wallet. At this time ePassporte can no longer issue Visa Cards, and the ability for our Account Holders to make point of sale purchases and withdraw funds from ATMs has also been suspended. At this time we do not know why this drastic action was taken by Visa. To us, it is unconscionable that such action would be taken without the opportunity for ePassporte to fully understand Visa’s reasons and to be able to take all steps necessary to keep our program running the way it has so successfully done for over 7 years. But that is what Visa has done. As soon as we have more information we will be in contact with you. In the meantime please be assured that your funds are safe. We are very sorry for the short notice and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. The ePassporte team is working diligently to rectify this situation. We kindly ask you to bear with us while we work through this issue. Please feel free to contact us via the message center or at our call center, should you have any questions, comments or concerns. Thank You, Christopher Mallick

These are very bad news and many people is awaiting for news on the subject, which are supposed to come on Wednesday September 8th. Therefore, we’re no longer accepting Epassporte at least until the situation is clear.

In the meanwhile, if you’re looking for an extremely reliable alternative payment method, please check out this one. (yeah, I know this is spammy but believe me, you won’t regret it )

UPDATE: As of today, Epassporte seems to be gone for good, they posted the following message in their website:

IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING YOUR EPASSPORTE ACCOUNT

Dear ePassporte Account Holders,

St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank, without our prior knowledge, has turned off the ability for ePassporte to access or display Account Holders’ Visa Card balances. This means that when you login to your ePassporte Account, you will only be able to see your Wallet balance. As a consequence, inquiries regarding your Visa Card balance must be directed to St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank. St Kitts Bank is responsible for all funds on Visa Cards. Their contact information is as follows:

St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Ltd.

Central Street,
P.O. Box 343
Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies

Tel: (869) 465-2204    Mon – Thurs: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Fri: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Fax: (869) 465-1050
Email: webmaster@sknanb.com

ePassporte will continue to provide support with regard to the funds in your Wallet. We kindly ask for your patience as we must verify Accounts and balances manually.

Thank You,

ePassporte Account Holder Services

so well, I think we can call it THE END