If you are a current account holder in Nigeria, then this is a bad news because Nigerian banks have been able to come up with a plan that will enable them extort customers.
It would be recalled that the CBN has ordered banks to stop deducting Cost of Transaction on customers accounts with effect from this month. They banks have now unveiled another method of gaining from customers money, this they call charging of ‘a maintenance fee’, a plan has the blessing of the CBN.
The amount to be deducted is N1 per N1,000 debit transactions on a current account. It does not affect savings account.
“The revised guide to bank charges (RGBC) which came into effect on April 1, 2013 provides for a phased elimination of commission on turnover (COT) charges in the Nigerian banking industry, under the guidelines, a zero COT regime was to come into effect from January 2016,” CBN said in the circular.
The CBN said it noted that while COT was gradually phased out, some banks began charging maintenance fee in addition to COT.
The bank said it was also aware of the impact of dwindling oil prices, Treasury Single Account (TSA) and other market turbulence.
The new rate means that if a customer withdraws N100,000 from his account, the bank will deduct N100 as maintenance fee. If a customer does a transaction of N1million from his account, the bank lays claim to N1,000 out of the money. If one withdraws N2million, the bank charges a ‘maintenance fee’ of N2,000, according to a circular sent by one of the banks today.
Remember that the banks also charge ‘maintenance fee on ATM cards.
