A different shape of starting point
Moniepoint came at this from the opposite direction to a wallet app: it built an agent network first and put software on top of it afterwards. For this route that has one practical consequence. Cash can enter the system at a counter, which matters where income arrives in cash and never passes through a bank at all.
Once the money is an account balance the route is indistinguishable from any other starting point. The same four steps, the same tariffs, the same arithmetic. What the agent adds is a way in, not a cheaper way through.
The cost of the entry, separate from the route
An agent handling cash charges for doing so, and that charge is not part of the four steps on this site because it happens before them. It should still be counted: a transaction fee at the counter plus the route cost is the real total. On a ₦25,000 deposit the route alone takes between 3.4% and 21.7%, and anything paid at the counter sits on top.
| Sent | Reaches the table | Lost | Best case |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₦10,000 | ₦5,469 | 45.3% | ₦9,370 |
| ₦25,000 | ₦19,582 | 21.7% | ₦24,145 |
| ₦50,000 | ₦43,104 | 13.8% | ₦48,770 |
| ₦100,000 | ₦90,147 | 9.9% | ₦98,020 |
Route cost only. Counter charges are separate and vary by agent.
Cash as a starting point, priced honestly
The agent network is the only entry on this route that begins with physical cash, and that is worth pricing properly rather than waving at. Cash handed over a counter becomes an account balance, the counter takes its charge, and from that moment the four steps on this site apply unchanged. The total cost of the journey is therefore the counter charge plus the route, and only the second half is on this site.
| Starting from | Steps before the route | Charged by | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash at an agent | one — the deposit | the agent | the four steps below |
| App balance | none | — | the four steps below |
| Bank account | none | — | the four steps below |
The route itself does not know or care which of the three rows produced the balance.
Which means the comparison people want — is an agent cheaper? — is answered somewhere this site cannot see. What can be said is that it changes nothing about the 21.7% the route takes from ₦25,000, and that a counter charge on top of that is worth counting rather than forgetting.
Where the limits sit
Agent transactions and app transfers are governed by different ceilings, and the two do not always move together. An account that can receive a large agent deposit may still refuse a large outbound transfer, which is the direction this route needs. The order to check them in is therefore backwards from the intuitive one: confirm what the account can send before arranging what it will receive.
- Outbound is the constraint. The route only uses the sending direction.
- Verification tiers apply to both. Raising one usually raises the other, but the figures are not the same.
- The exchange has the final say. Its own deposit ceiling can be lower than anything on the wallet side.
Nearby on this route
Three pages that pick up where this one stops: Starting from PalmPay, Starting from a bank account, Naira to the table.