Customers flay excessive bank charges

Customers of commercial banks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have called for an end to excessive charges levied on them by commercial banks.

A cross section of the customers who spoke to journalists in Abuja yesterday appealed to relevant authorities for proper moderation of the charges.

They said the charges had continued to multiply by the day and needed to be stopped as soon as possible.

Mr Kingsley Attah, a bank customer, said the rate at which banks charged their customers was not in order and should be discouraged.

“I have an account with a bank and at the end of the month, my account is usually debited between N25 and N40 a month. This amount may seem small but when they charge all the customers in a month, it will amount to a huge sum. These charges usually come irrespective of whether you do a transaction in the bank or not and I think it is illegal”, he said.

Miss Charity Akowe, another bank customer, said she wanted to withdraw N1.5 million from her account but was told that she would be charged over N35,000.

Akowe said she had to rather transfer the money into another account to avoid paying the huge charges. She said it was not ideal for banks to charge customers so much for withdrawing money from their own accounts.

Another customer, Mr James Amos, said he could not understand why banks would charge customers for withdrawing money from their accounts.

According to him, customers deposit money in the banks for safe keeping and the banks in turn use the money for their businesses. He said that rather than charge customers for transactions, the banks should pay interests for keeping money.

An official of First Bank Plc in the Wuse Area who preferred anonymity said the charges on customers were the ways banks generate their money.

“If banks do not generate any money at the end of the day, their staff will go home without salaries. So, for us to be able to generate money and service our businesses, we have to charge customers for services rendered and we are very considerate with the charges,” he said.

Another official at the GTBank said some of the charges were parts of measures to encourage a cashless economy. Charges being complained of by customers include Commission on Turnover, ATM card maintenance fees, SMS charges, costs on letter of nonindebtedness. ( NAN)