At least on Boavista it hasn’t been possible for me to withdraw money neither from an ATM nor direct from the bank. As barely card payments are accepted here I couldn’t try this out.
In Sal I had no luck at all with vendor’s card payments - multiple failures. However, I did manage to get currency out from the ATM in my hotel.
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Just got back from a week in Cape Verde. Didn’t have any problems on Sal, Sao Vincente, or Santo Antao with current account cards. Not many places take card, so it was mostly just ATM withdrawls, all of which charge you around £1.50/withdrawl, on top of the 3% foreign ATM withdrawl charge by Monzo (after the first £200).
I’ve just travelled to Santa Maria on Sal, my card was declined at what I believe is the only the supermarket in the town.
Strangely it didn’t come up as declined on the Monzo app like other transactions do, nothing showed at all. (it said correct pin on the terminal screen before declining).
Luckily I had Euro on me, and carried another bank card which is Visa after that.
I doubt in Cape Verde payment terminals are online enabled, so you need a card that allows for offline transactions.
The problem is, that the Cape Verde’s seem to be Visa Card only. Ive been again and as soon as I planned to pay with my Monzo MC I’ve been asked if I don’t have a Visa.
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Cape Verde runs its own vinti4 card scheme, with Visa also having some acceptance and MasterCard pretty much only being usable in ATMs. That’s the info I was able to get from a friend who is a Cape Verde national
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Just got back from Cape Verde. I wasn’t able to use my Monzo card except at an ATM in our hotel. The ATM let me have cash twice but each time I tried again it spat my card out after entering my pin. When I tried to pay for things using my card it seemed to fail after putting in my pin. It wasn’t declined and I didn’t get any notification via the app. I also had trouble using my MasterCard credit card. Visa debit and credit cards worked fine every time though.
Hello all. Just chucking my 10p in as just got back. As Cape Verde currency is closed I just took Euros with me so didn’t need to use Monzo.
However I did try and use Monzo to pay for food at Sal airport on way home and card was declined but weirdly didn’t come through as a notification or anything just card reader didn’t accept payment. Luckily had my nationwide and that went through fine. First time it’s ever happened so no idea why!
Quick update ! Mastercard do work as I have just used my Revolut card… It would be nice to know why Monzo did not work !
Just about to fly back from Sal Island.
Same thing happened to me. No problem to withdraw cash at any ATM however the card never went through any card machine. The staff says that it is because most machines do not accept mastercards (even though it is labelled everywhere that they take it). Luckily I had another card but a bit annoyed as I’ll have to pay full bank fees 
Hello all,
I’m on Cape Verde for 4 weeks, with no success with paying by Monzo card yet (e.g. in shops, resturants, bars…). I’ve been on several islands (Santo Antoa, Sao Vicente, Boa Vista, Praia). Numerous others in my group have had Monzo and tried unsuccessfully too (mostly on Soa Vicente). The only plus is that I am still able to take cash out from banks via Monzo, however I have exceeded the limits on both my and my wife’s cards so I am expecting to be charged a fee from Monzo from this (on top of the ~£1.5 per transaction fee from the banks).
All other cards work fine (both visa and mastercard). Other people with non-monzo fintech said their cards have worked fine. I’ve used monzo in many different countries and never had issues before here on Cape Verde!
Anyone know this is isn’t working and seems to not have since 2016? any fixes on the way?
Cheers,
Tomas
Hi Tom & welcome 
While there’s no solution to exceeding your limits when withdrawing cash from banks, have you enabled Magstripe ATM’s on your account in-app for paying in stores/restaurants/bars?
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I had to enable magstripe in the US after a bartender ran the card through their swipe terminal. It didn’t work
for the first 2-3 attempts, but worked immediately after I enabled it. I suspect there are still a lot of non-ATM swipe terminals around the globe.
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Hello David,
Thanks for the response.
I’ve now set that to enabled and will try asking bars/shops to use the swipe option if they can. I’m not sure how many have that option. All payments I have tried so far have been through the chip and pin method. I’ll report back!
Cheers,
Tomas
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Hi Tom,
I have been again January 2020 on Boavista and again none of my Mastercards (Monzo and others) was working. Visa no issues. Haven’t enabled the Magstrip though.
There is a post from last year February by mega master: “Cape Verde runs its own vinti4 card scheme, with Visa also having some acceptance and MasterCard pretty much only being usable in ATMs. That’s the info I was able to get from a friend who is a Cape Verde national” Perhaps that explains it…
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Hello all,
Just realised I didn’t get around to checking back in.
To confirm, the Monzo card was only able to be used at ATMs in Cape Verde even after turning on the swipe setting.
A single exception was that someone had a zettle-like handheld device at an airport restaurant and Monzo worked fine with that.
Cheers,
Tomas
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This is helpful, thank you. I’m going to Sal next week for a week. Am I right in thinking I should take euros as a back up and find ATMs to withdraw cash when I’m there?
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I’ve just got back from Sal in Cape Verde.
The Mastercard issue seems resolved. Everyone who takes Visa also takes Mastercard.
Most outlets have contactless terminals, however I found it a bit hit & miss. If contactless fails, chip & pin generally will work.
There are still many places that are cash only.
ATMs in Cape Verde appear to operate on the same network regardless of the bank (you’ll see the same 90s style graphic on the screen).
All ATMs charge a CVE250 fee per withdrawal, but WILL NOT tell you this. There is a DCC screen (which you should always decline), but no fee notification.
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