Numerous charges by banks are giving depositors sleepless nights. “I bought Daar Communications shares in 2008 but I was not offered any certificate. So, First Registrars who handled the transactions asked me to do an indemnity and get a letter of attestation from my bank. My bank charged me N3000 for that letter. The painful aspect about the whole thing is that the registrars were not satisfied. They sent me back to the bank for another document which the bank refused to issue. That is how I lost my money and the share certificate. If you request a bank statement, you are charged for it. But CBN always claims that depositors have the right to be issued their account statements by mere asking,” a customer with Access Bank Plc, Aminu Kano Crescent, Abuja, narrated his ordeal.
The numerous charges
Among charges banks usually deduct from customers accounts include: 5 per cent VAT on every current account; Commission on Turnover (CoT), usually N5 on every N1,000 withdrawn or transferred from current account; SMS alert charges; penalty fee for loan default; Searching fee usually N5,000 paid to credit agency to establish the credit worthy status of those seeking loans.
Other charges are; monthly maintenance fee for every current account which differs from one bank to another; N5 inter-state commission for every N1,000 transferred into or withdrawn from savings accounts in a state different from where the savings account is opened or domiciled (up country), etc.
Officials, however, defended their banks on this allegation of needless charges, arguing that they do not impose charges on customers’ account outside the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s stipulated in the guidelines.
Open charges
Some of the open charges in some banks are: Zenith Bank: Value Added Tax (VAT) on Commission On Transaction (COT) is 0.5 percent while WAN or upcountry charges is N200 flat per transaction. COT is charged N5 per N1000 transacted in business and negotiable.
Also, Zenith Bank charges its customers N65 each time they use the ATM, but it doesn’t deduct monthly access fee. However, withdrawals from other ATM cards attract N100 per transaction.
SMS alert notification is still N10 and the bank says there are no hidden charges as all charges are communicated to the customer.
Fidelity Bank: COT charges are based on the type of account. Domiciliary account transfer is charged 0.6 percent and can be negotiated.
To get an ATM card in Fidelity Bank, it will cost you N1,000 but after that, you are not charged for using the ATM. It only charges N100 if used in another bank’s ATM.
UBA PLC: Upcountry charges are applicable only on savings accounts (except its variant- GOLD PLUS) and its only on withdrawals or deposits of up to N250,000 and above.
UBA charges COT on all current accounts and it’s N5 for every N1,000 except on special accounts and it is subject to negotiation. SMS is N10 per alert. Over the counter charges, excluding third party cheques is N105 if withdrawal is less than N80,000.
UBA also charges N105 monthly account maintenance fee and debit interest too.
Charges huge on aggregate
An ex-banker, now CEO Fresh Field Asset Management Limited, Abdulrasheed Abubakar, said most of the bank charges are transaction based and they are broadly called ledger maintenance fees. Some are negotiated with the customer.
According to him, the charges may look insignificant to an individual customer but when aggregated, they become really huge. He said in most cases, the account service charges don’t go beyond N1,500 per month.
He advised customers to look at Bankers Tariff Guide to know what the banks are supposed to be charging on certain transactions.
Customers disregard litigation
He also advised the customer to seek a refund when they feel they are arbitrarily charged. He however noted that most times, the banks don’t refund the customer even when the complaint is made and the customer often refrains from litigation because of legal charges.
Customers pay severally one charge
For those taking facilities from the banks, he advised them to be vigilant. “If you borrow money, you are charged say one percent processing fee, one percent management and some other administrative charges. Let’s say the charges amount to three percent of the sum of the facility. But the question is, when is the three percent charged? Is it monthly, quarterly, annually or it’s a one-off thing? So, if you don’t define the frequency of the charges on your facility, you may end up paying severally, charges you are not supposed to pay
