Here is a fee that most JazzCash users never noticed, and never expected to pay: a charge for doing nothing. If you left money sitting in a JazzCash wallet and did not use it for a full year, the old schedule of charges allowed a deduction of Rs 100 per month as an inactivity fee. Your balance would quietly shrink, month after month, not because you spent anything, but because you did not.
That fee is now gone. According to a Mobilink Microfinance Bank memo, JazzCash’s inactivity fee has been set to zero from 12 October 2026. If you have a JazzCash wallet, this article explains what changed, what the old fee was, how to check whether it was ever deducted from your wallet, and what to ask the helpline about earlier deductions. It also explains, honestly, what this change does not do: it does not promise a refund, and it is based on a single-source report of a bank memo, so you should confirm the position in your own app.
What was the inactivity fee?
An inactivity fee is a charge a financial provider applies when an account sits unused for a long time. The logic, from the provider’s side, is that dormant accounts still cost money to maintain, and a small fee encourages users either to use the account or to close it. From the user’s side, it often feels unfair, because the money in the wallet is the user’s own money, and losing it for not spending feels like a penalty for saving.
Under JazzCash’s old schedule, the inactivity fee was Rs 100 per month, applied to a wallet that had seen no activity in the preceding 12 months. That is a high bar in one sense: a full year of no transactions is a long time, and many regular users would never hit it. But it is also easy to hit by accident. A wallet opened for a one-off purpose, a second wallet kept as a backup, a wallet belonging to a family member who moved abroad, or a wallet opened for a child or an elderly parent can all sit untouched for a year without anyone realising. Once the 12 months passed, Rs 100 a month would start coming out, and on a small balance, that adds up fast. A wallet holding Rs 500 would be empty in five months. A wallet holding Rs 1,000 would be gone in ten.
The important detail is what counts as activity. Normally, any transaction, whether a payment, a transfer, a bill payment or a mobile load, resets the clock. Simply opening the app and looking at your balance may not count. The old schedule’s wording focused on wallet activity, meaning transactions, not logins. If you are unsure whether your wallet counts as active, the safest test is a real transaction, even a tiny one, rather than assuming that opening the app is enough.
What changed, and when
The change comes from Mobilink Microfinance Bank, which operates JazzCash. Memo Inst./45/2026 sets JazzCash’s inactivity fee to zero with effect from 12 October 2026. In other words, from that date, the fee for an inactive wallet is Rs 0. No monthly deduction for inactivity should apply to wallets after that date.
The timeline around the memo is worth understanding, because it explains why some users may still have seen a deduction. The October to December 2026 schedule of charges, as issued on 1 October 2026 under Inst Circular/42/2026, still showed the inactivity fee at Rs 100. The memo changing it to zero came later, is dated in a file dated 19 October 2026, and took effect from 12 October 2026. That means there is a window in early October when the published schedule still showed Rs 100, even though the memo’s effective date was 12 October. If a deduction appeared on your statement in that window, the dates matter, and they are exactly what you should check when you review your statement.
This article’s reporting of the memo comes from Pakera, which reported the change on 20 October 2026 based on JazzCash’s own schedule of charges page. That is a single source reporting a bank memo, not a JazzCash press release or a public announcement from the company. That distinction matters, and it is why this article repeatedly tells you to confirm the position in your own app. A single-source report can be accurate and still deserve verification, especially when money is involved.
It is also important to say what the memo does not do. It gives no reason for the change, and it says nothing about refunds for fees deducted before 12 October 2026. Do not read this article as a promise that earlier deductions will be returned. The memo changes the fee going forward. What happens to past deductions is a question to ask the helpline, not a guarantee to assume.
How to check your wallet right now
The most useful thing you can do after reading this article takes about two minutes, and you should do it inside the JazzCash app itself.
First, open the JazzCash app and check your current balance. Write it down or take a screenshot, so that you have a record of where you stand today.
Second, open your transaction history or mini-statement inside the app, and look back over the last year. You are looking for any deduction labelled as an inactivity fee, an inactivity charge, a dormancy fee, or something similar. Check the dates carefully. A deduction dated before 12 October 2026 falls under the old fee. A deduction dated on or after 12 October 2026 should not be there under the new memo, and if you find one, it is worth querying.
Third, check when your last real transaction was. If your wallet has had no transaction for close to 12 months, make a small genuine transaction now, such as a small mobile load or a bill payment you actually need. That resets your activity clock under any reasonable reading of the rules, and it costs you nothing extra, because you are paying for something you needed anyway.
Fourth, if your wallet holds money you do not need there, consider moving it to your bank account or using it for a planned payment. There is no reason to leave a balance sitting idle in a wallet for a year when the money could be in your bank account instead. This is not financial advice, just common sense: idle wallet balances are the ones that attract inactivity rules in the first place.
If you manage a wallet for a family member, such as an elderly parent, do the same check for them, with their permission. These are exactly the wallets that tend to sit inactive, and the owner may never notice a monthly deduction. A two-minute check by a family member can save a balance that would otherwise drain away unnoticed.
What to ask the helpline about earlier deductions
If your statement shows inactivity deductions from before 12 October 2026, you have a reasonable question to ask, even though no refund is promised. Here is how to ask it clearly, so that the helpline can actually help you.
Start by quoting the memo reference: Mobilink Microfinance Bank memo Inst./45/2026, which sets the inactivity fee to zero from 12 October 2026. Giving the reference shows you are asking about a specific document, not making a general complaint, and it helps the agent find the right policy.
Then state the facts from your statement: the dates of the deductions, the amounts, and the fact that the wallet had no activity in the preceding 12 months. Ask two clear questions. First, do the deductions before 12 October 2026 stand, or is there any process for reviewing them in light of the memo? Second, can the agent confirm in writing, through the app or by SMS, that no further inactivity fee will be deducted from your wallet?
Keep a record of the call: the date, the agent’s name if given, and any complaint or reference number. If the agent says a refund is not possible, ask them to confirm that on the record, so that you are not left guessing. If the agent says a review is possible, ask what documents they need and how long it will take. A polite, specific complaint with dates and a memo reference is far more likely to get a useful answer than a vague demand for a refund.
It is worth being realistic about the outcome. Banks and wallet providers do not usually refund fees that were correctly applied under the schedule in force at the time, even when the fee is later removed. The memo changes the future, and it may not rewrite the past. Asking is still worth doing, because policies sometimes include a goodwill process that is not published, and because a complaint creates a record. But do not spend money, pay anyone, or share your PIN or OTP with anyone who promises to recover the fee for you. No legitimate refund process will ever ask for your PIN, your OTP, or a payment to release a refund. Anyone who does is running a scam.
How Easypaisa compares
Readers who use both wallets will naturally ask whether Easypaisa charges an inactivity fee too. Based on the same reporting, the answer is no, at least not as a line in its schedule. Easypaisa’s October to December 2026 branchless banking schedule contains no inactivity-fee line. That does not mean Easypaisa is free of all charges. The same schedule shows other charges that still apply when you use the service, including card and ATM charges of Rs 35 and USSD charges of Rs 1. Those are usage charges, not inactivity charges: you pay them when you use a card, an ATM or a USSD session, not for leaving money untouched.
The comparison is useful because it shows that the two wallets treat idle money differently. JazzCash had an inactivity fee and has now removed it. Easypaisa’s schedule shows no such fee line. Neither position should be taken as permanent without checking the current schedule in the app, because schedules of charges are updated quarterly, and a fee that is absent in one quarter can appear in another. The habit that protects you on both wallets is the same: check your statement regularly, and do not leave a balance idle for a year.
Why this small change matters
Rs 100 a month sounds small, and for a regular user who transacts every week, it was irrelevant. But fees that target inactivity fall hardest on the people least likely to notice them: the elderly, people who moved abroad and left a wallet behind, people with a second wallet they forgot about, and low-income users for whom Rs 100 is not trivial. A fee that drains a small balance to zero is not a minor charge for the person who owned that balance.
Removing the fee also removes a quiet penalty on saving. A wallet is often used as a simple place to keep a small amount of money aside, separate from daily spending. Charging people for keeping money aside, rather than spending it, sends the wrong signal, especially for users who are still building trust in digital finance. A zero inactivity fee is a small step, but it is a step in the direction of treating wallets as safe places to keep money, not as accounts that must be used or lose their balance.
There is a broader lesson here too. Schedules of charges change, often quietly, and the only way to catch a change that affects you is to read your statement. Most wallet users never read the schedule of charges, and most never check a statement unless something goes wrong. A monthly habit of opening the statement and scanning for unfamiliar deductions takes less than a minute, and it is the single best protection against any fee, not just this one.
This is not the same story as the wallet payment delays
Some readers may confuse this article with the Easypaisa and JazzCash payment delays covered elsewhere on this site, because both stories involve the same two wallets. They are different stories, and the distinction matters.
The payment delays story was about merchant payments slowing down during a crackdown, which is a system and enforcement problem that affected transactions in progress. This story is about a fee-schedule change: a standing charge on inactive wallets being set to zero. One is about payments getting stuck. The other is about a balance shrinking quietly over time. The advice is different for each. If your payment is stuck, you follow the delays guide. If your balance is shrinking without transactions, you follow this guide: check your statement, note the 12 October 2026 date, and ask the helpline with the memo reference.
Keeping the two stories separate also prevents a dangerous misunderstanding. A reader who hears “JazzCash fee scrapped” might wrongly assume that all JazzCash charges are gone, or that a stuck payment will now go through. Neither is true. Only the inactivity fee is set to zero. Other charges, and other problems, remain exactly as they were.
The bottom line
From 12 October 2026, JazzCash’s inactivity fee is Rs 0, under Mobilink Microfinance Bank memo Inst./45/2026, replacing the old Rs 100 per month charge on wallets with no activity in the preceding 12 months. If you have a JazzCash wallet, open the app today, check your statement for any deductions before that date, and make a small genuine transaction if your wallet has been idle for close to a year. If you find earlier deductions, ask the helpline about them with the memo reference, but do not expect a promised refund, because the memo says nothing about refunds. And remember the source caveat: this is a single-source report of a bank memo, not a JazzCash press release, so confirm the position in your own app, and never share your PIN or OTP with anyone who offers to recover a fee for you.
According to Pakera, Mobilink Microfinance Bank memo Inst./45/2026 sets JazzCash’s inactivity fee to 0 from 12 October 2026, replacing the previous Rs 100 per month fee on wallets with no activity in the preceding 12 months, as reported on 20 October 2026 from JazzCash’s own schedule of charges page.
FAQs
What is the JazzCash inactivity fee now?
It is Rs 0 from 12 October 2026, under Mobilink Microfinance Bank memo Inst./45/2026. Before that date, the fee was Rs 100 per month on a wallet with no activity in the preceding 12 months.
How do I check if the inactivity fee was deducted from my wallet?
Open the JazzCash app, check your balance, then open your transaction history or mini-statement and look back over the last year for any deduction labelled as an inactivity, dormancy or similar fee. Note the dates: deductions before 12 October 2026 fall under the old fee, while deductions on or after that date should not occur under the new memo.
Will I get a refund for inactivity fees deducted before 12 October 2026?
No refund is promised. The memo sets the fee to zero going forward and says nothing about refunds for earlier deductions. You can still ask the helpline, quoting memo Inst./45/2026 with the dates and amounts from your statement, but treat any refund as a question, not a guarantee. Never share your PIN or OTP with anyone who promises to recover the fee.
Does Easypaisa charge an inactivity fee?
Based on the same reporting, Easypaisa’s October to December 2026 branchless banking schedule has no inactivity-fee line. Other Easypaisa charges still apply when you use the service, including card and ATM charges of Rs 35 and USSD charges of Rs 1. Check the current schedule in the app, because schedules are updated quarterly.
How do I keep my wallet active?
Make a real transaction, such as a mobile load, a bill payment or a transfer you actually need. Simply opening the app and viewing your balance may not count as activity. If your wallet has been idle for close to 12 months, a small genuine transaction resets the activity clock.
Is this the same as the Easypaisa and JazzCash payment delays?
No. The payment delays were about merchant payments slowing down during a crackdown. This is a fee-schedule change: the inactivity fee on idle wallets being set to zero. The two stories involve the same wallets but are different problems with different advice.