Bank Accounts: CAFON mobilises Nigerians against CBN's Excessive Charges


In view of the public outcry against CBN's directive to increase approved bank charges with effect from May 1 2017, Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria CAFON is set to launch another consumer protest tagged #CloseOneMillionBankAccountsIn2017.

The aim is to mobilse Nigerian consumers to resist what it described as “excessive charges’’ by Nigerian banks. The Consumer Advocacy NGO initiated the #NoBankingDay protest on March 1, 2016, to draw national attention to bank consumers' dissatisfaction with excessive and illegal bank charges.
CAFON Founding President, Ms Sola Salako, in a statement stated that some of the disputed and unpopular charges include: a 600% increase in Debit Card Maintenance Fee from N100 per annum to N50 per month; Excessive Account Maintenance Charges; Mandatory SMS service charged at N4/SMS as against actual cost of less than N1 for bulk SMS; N65 per ATM other bank withdrawal after 3 withdrawals.

“The banks have dubiously altered this to ensure consumers exceed the monthly 3 free withdrawals quickly by programming their ATM to dispense only N10,000 maximum per transaction for other bank's customers as against N40,000 maximum possible for their own customers’’, the statement added.
“A recent front page report in Vanguard stated that top ten banks raked in over N160bn from online transactions charges in 2016 alone! These excessive charges have been providing massive income for the banks from ancillary online platforms as against the core banking services, thus posing a significant threat to the success of CBN's own Cashless Policy initiative’’, Salako added.

She explained that the proposed #CloseOneMillionBankAccountsIn2017 consumer action is predicated on the need to drastically reduce the numbers of active or live bank accounts from which “these unreasonably excessive charges are regularly deducted’’.
According to the group, Nigerian banks are known to be deducting multiple charges from every account open in their books irrespective of whether there was any transaction done in the month or not; adding that ‘’even dormant accounts are levied with SMS alerts and VAT charges’’; saying consumers have also complained that they are often charged for an unsolicited birthday greeting SMS by most banks.

"Since the CBN has refused to stop the alleged sector extortion via excessive charges, we advise consumers to close all non-essential bank accounts immediately. That way, we can minimize the available channels from which they make such stupendous income at the consumer's expense", Salako further explained.
“The proposed protest is simple, non-confrontation and an exercise of the consumer's right to choose. It is also pragmatic, frugal and can save consumers billions in excessive bank charges’’, she harped.

CAFON pointed out that most consumers operate more than one bank account, sometimes in multiple banks.

“All these bank accounts are subjected to multiple charges monthly even when they have not been active. We urge consumers to audit their numerous bank accounts, identify the most essential to their lifestyle, employment or business needs, keep those and initiate the process to close the non- essential accounts in their personal and business names immediately. Corporates must also do the same to minimize what they lose monthly to excessive bank charges’’, the group further urged consumers.

“If consumers take action immediately, we can prevent the charges for the month of May. All an account holder needs to do is write the Branch Manager a letter instructing the bank to close all non-essential accounts with immediate effect listing them by NUBAN numbers. Make sure to take a copy of the letter to be stamped received with date and give the account Name, Number and Bank where your balance in the closed accounts should be transferred. Once this is completed, the banks have no right to charge that account again from date of receipt of your letter’’.
To ensure that the campaign is successful, CAFON promises to provide online support materials to assist consumers in enforcing their rights. ‘’We shall also provide a link for consumers to list their closed accounts as we countdown to our one million closed bank accounts target by Dec 31 2017. We expect all aggrieved consumers to join the protest and mobilize others to take action too. Collectively we can force a reduction of these obscene profiteering in the name of multiple add-on bank charges. Enough is Enough!’’

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

COWLSO Conference to Focus on Ingenuity of Women - Bolanle Ambode

Image
Wife of the governor of Lagos State and chairman of the Committee of the Wives of Lagos State Officials, COWLSO, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, has said that this year’s National Women’s Conference, the 17 th in the series, would focus on the ingenuity of women as innovators and solution providers. She spoke in Alausa, Ikeja, while interacting with pressmen on the forthcoming conference, slated for 24th to 26 th October, 2017, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, adding that brand new cars, among other tempting prizes, would be won at the raffle draw of the gala, on day two of the programme. She hinted that the conference with the theme ‘She Creates, She Transforms’, would be declared open by the wife of the vice-president, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo and declared closed by Governor Bindo Jibrilla of Adamawa State. According to her, ‘This year’s conference theme is expected to focus on the ingenuity of the Nigerian women, in the pursuit of innovative and practical solutions aime...
Read more

My Quest to Be ‘Cool’: Dealing With Low Self Esteem

Image
I was born in Sekondi to a nurse and a farmer. At about 5 years, we moved to Komenda, a small town in the Central Region of Ghana. Even though I was one of the best students in primary school, I always felt ‘little’ when we travelled to cities like Cape Coast, Accra and Takoradi. I felt everyone there was more beautiful, more intelligent, spoke better English and was generally better than me. I had a similar experience in secondary school, always looking down on myself and feeling I was not good enough. Oh how I wished I were an ‘Accra girl’ because I thought they were so cool! Yet, when my family finally moved to Accra, I still didn’t feel cool. On top of this I didn’t even have a boyfriend! If only I could get a boyfriend, then I will be cool like the other girls… I thought. In University, I met some really wonderful friends, some of whom were from ‘rich’ families and I thought being friends with them will make me feel cool. I didn’t. I had the opportunity to start tr...
Read more

Agony of a Child Bride!!!

Image
My Name Is Fatima Mustapha. I Am 21 Years Old. I Am From Makarfi In Kaduna State. I Would Like To Share My Divorce Diaries With You . I was married off at age 11. In my village, most of us were married by age 12 to preserve our purity. I am still not sure what that means. I never thought it would happen to me because my parents allowed me to attend school instead of hawking and I loved school alot. In my school nobody made me do extra work because I was a girl. I loved school because I loved coming first and being ahead of the boys in my class. I was in JS2 when my mother started talking about getting me married. I honestly thought she was joking until my uncle brought his friend to our house as my suitor. My suitor, Malam Faruk was a shoe seller and cobbler in Zaria. He was 42 years old and my parents felt he would make a good husband. I did not understand what they were all talking about. I really did not understand what I would do with a husband. So that’s how Malam F...
Read more