Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, a former president, Chattered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), has urged bank customers to approach the courts if they observe irregular deductions from their accounts.
Unegbu, who is also a former managing director of the defunct Citizens International Bank, gave the advice in an interview with Newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.
He spoke against the backdrop of complaints by bank customers on unexplained, multiple deductions from their accounts.
According to him, the best thing is for customers to initiate court cases against such banks, even while accepting that the justice system is slow.
“That bothers them a lot. In one instance, I won a case against First Bank and and they paid damages.
”The only problem is that the judiciary is slow,” he said.
Unegbu said that the best way to sort such issues out would have been through the bank customers association, which was not active.
According to him, the banks can charge five Naira or N10 per transaction; people see it as small, so they just ignore.
“But when you consider that they have millions of customers that they take such charges from, you will know that it is a lot of money for them,” he said.
He said that there were Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guidelines on bank charges.
Unuegbu urged customers to take cognisance of the document and seek redress when they got charges outside the guidelines.
“That document explicitly states the legal charges that banks are entitled to from their customers.
“But most Nigerian banks charge much more than what is recommended, which is against all principles of banking.
”Such things do not happen abroad. And the problem is that most customers do not complain.
“If customers get such charges, they should start by writing to the banks to complain. Going to the bank physically might not yield any positive result.
“If customers can develop the habit of complaining, the banks will start learning,” he said.
He said that the CBN had a complaint desk for such issues, adding that the desk appears not to be very effective.
Meanwhile, findings revealed that there are charges approved by the apex bank across all banks in Nigeria.
According to the CBN guidelines, transactions below N5,000 will incur a maximum fee of N10; transfers between N5,000 and N50,000 will attract a charge of N25; and transfers beyond N50,000 will receive a charge of N50.
The guidelines state that account card maintenance cost has been eliminated because the accounts already have maintenance fees.
“Savings accounts will be charged a card maintenance cost of N50 every quarter rather than N50 every month.
“The annual card maintenance cost for cards denominated in foreign currency (FCY) has been reduced from 20 dollars to 10 dollars.
“There is no charge for Naira debit or credit cards linked to the current account.
“The fee for issuing a credit card is N1,000 (one-off charge), regardless of the type of card issued, whether premium or regular,” it said.
It said that the fee for reissuing lost or damaged cards (at the customer’s request) is N1,000 (one-off charge), while renewal fee when existing cards expire, was N1,000 (one-off charge).
“Monthly statements of account for current and savings accounts are required and are free of charge. Special statement of account request is a maximum N20 per page.
“SMS alert is mandatory. If a customer chooses not to receive SMS alerts, the consumer must provide the bank with an indemnity (for any damages that may occur as a result).
“There is no cost for receiving an email notification,” it said.
The CBN announced that any financial institution that violated any of the terms in the guidelines would be fined two million Naira per violation, or as the CBN may determine from time to time.
The bank advised customers to give deposit money banks at least two weeks to resolve any issues, failure of which it would intervene.
“If after lodging your complaint your bank still fails to engage you and resolve the complaint within two weeks, you have the right to escalate your complaint to the Consumer Protection Department (CPD) .
“Customers can contact the CPD by sending an email to cpd@cbn.gov.ng, contactcbn@cbn.gov.ng or call +234 7002255226. Customers can lodge a complaint directly on the CBN website,” it said.
