When the government announces the ePENJANA program back in June, it included a clause which said the free RM 50 free e-wallet credit can only be used for purchases at physical stores and not applicable for online transactions. This policy was further supported by the FAQ document from Boost that went up online prematurely.
Now that the ePENJANA program has finally kicked off, it seemed that the government has reversed its stance even though that clause is still listed in the PENJANA booklet on the Ministry of Finance’s website [pdf]. This is based on the new FAQs that were posted online by all three official e-Wallet partners for ePENJANA including GrabPay and Touch ‘n Go eWallet in addition to Boost.
In the FAQs, all three e-wallet services stated that users can utilize the free credit for virtually anything including online purchases, paying bills, and obtaining prepaid top-up. Even in-app services such as ride-hailing and food delivery have been greenlit as well.
However, Boost did mention that you cannot use the ePENJANA free credit for the Donation section of its app. Other than that, none of the three services allows the credit to be transferred to another account or into cash.
As mentioned before, you need to be a Malaysian that is 18 years and older with an annual income of less than RM 100000 to redeem the free ePENJANA e-wallet credit. Additionally, you also have to be a registered user of MySejahtera but the waiting time for the platform’s verification process could be longer than usual though since it is currently experiencing a high amount of traffic.
Well, there is no real reason to be in a rush anyway as the ePENJANA redemption period will last until 24 September 2020. So, just take one step at a time.
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