*The Central Bank of Nigeria urges consumers of financial products and services to report illegal bank charges or debit alerts on any transactions to the banking sector regulator in line with the extant CBN guidelines for consumer protection in the country鈥檚 financial ecosystem

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Following a flurry of complaints in regard to recent increases in arbitrary bank charges sometimes without transactions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged consumers of financial products and services to report any illegal charges on any transactions to the banking sector regulator in the West African country.

Customers of various commercial banks have said the bank charges are becoming exorbitant in recent times.

绿帽献妻 learnt Mohammed Muazu, Head of Complaint Management Division, Consumer Protection Department (CPD) of CBN, while reacting to the development, said bank customers should study the CBN guide on bank charges to ascertain how much they should be charged for any transaction in the financial ecosystem in Nigeria.

Muazu also urged consumers to study their online bank statements being sent by their banks to check variations between the CBN鈥檚 guidelines, and what they are being charged in transactions, agency report said.

The Head of Complaint Management Division of CPD at CBN stated: 鈥淚f your bank charges you more than what is in the CBN guideline, you have the right to say no. Let us try to know our rights.

鈥淢ost customers do not even review their statements when their bank sends to them. Review your account statement every month, and if you see what you do not understand, complain.

鈥淒o not sleep on what you do not understand. CBN is not your first line of defence, we only listen to escalated complaints.鈥�

Muazu further advised bank customers to ensure adequate understanding of any product before subscribing to them in banks.

Consumers react to 鈥榰nnecessary鈥� bank debit alerts

Among several others who have complained loudly over their banks鈥� arbitrary charges, Mrs. Helen Agodo, a customer with First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Limited, said that daily debits from her account by her bank was becoming unbearable.

Agodo related that for some days, she could receive debit alerts totally about N1,000 from her bank.

She also noted: 鈥淚n fact, I do not blame some people who decide not to put their monies in a bank.

鈥淭here was a day I calculated the debit alert charges that I received from my bank, it was up to N1,000 just for a day.

鈥淵ou will now imagine the total amount the bank will get if they do the same deduction from like 1,000 to 2,000 of their customers.鈥�

In the same vein, checks revealed that in some of the financial institutions, the illegal debit alerts could be worse than others, as customers said that sometimes, they could receive about seven to 10 debit alerts reflecting the same amount within minutes from Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), one of the major commercial banks in Nigeria.

Relating her personal experience, certain Miss Cheta Ugochukwu, a customer of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), described the charges as unfair.

Ugochukwu said the development was not a good or sincere business model.

The bank customer equally alleged that most banks are out only to make profits and not to satisfy their customers.

She also said: 鈥淭he charges are getting too much, and the worst is that it is every midnight that you get the alerts.

鈥淢ost times, I can get the N6.98 Telco fee from my bank like 10 times in a day, whereas I did like three online transactions.鈥�

Miss Ugochukwu stated: 鈥淚 wonder how they calculate this because it is unfair, given the current state of the economy.

However, a bank official reportedly said that their bank charged customers in line with the CBN guidelines to banks in the country.

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