It is a common occurrence to be debited twice for a single transaction or get debited and the receiver won’t get credited while engaging in online banking in Nigeria. It is even becoming a normal thing though it causes a lot of trouble for the people affected and at times, might even lead to tragic situations when the funds are meant for medical purposes.
Have you ever sent money to the wrong account or sent more money than you intended and you have no way of retrieving the excess sum? These are all challenges in online banking that have continued to give people headache.
However, because the Nigerian banking system is not infallible, there exists laws and policies put in place by the Central Bank of Nigeria to safeguard the interests of customers and commercial banks as well. But whether these laws are properly implemented is another issue entirely; but there are laws that bank customers can stand on to enforce these rights in court.
In the case of Idongesit Nwoko, who filed an action against her bank, after it failed to reverse a debit that was made to her account from a failed transaction despite several complaints, the High Court awarded N500, 000 as damages.
Oluwatosin Sanu filed a legal action against four major banks in Nigeria on the grounds of negligence and breach of duty of care by the banks when her account was hacked and she lost over N3, 000, 000 which she claimed that the bank authorised without making efforts to confirm if the withdrawal was made with her consent. As a result, the court awarded her damages to the tune of over N23,000,000.
If you accidentally transfer money to a different account number from what you intended since it takes only a few clicks to send money anywhere. What do you do in such a situation considering there are no safeguard policies and quick action systems to address these kinds of circumstances; like cancelling or blocking the transaction from being successful with a code?
Originally, the CBN Regulation provides that when such error transfer occurs, the person that made the mistake must request that the bank of the person to whom the money was accidentally sent should place the receiver’s account on Post No Debit to restrict transactions on the account until the claims are investigated and resolved so that the receiver will not run away with the money accidentally sent to his account. However this seems to no longer be the position of the law as courts have held that any person or law enforcement agency requiring a bank to freeze a customer’s account must obtain an order of a court to that effect.
What do you do in such situations? According to the law, the person must first report the incident to his bank which will now in turn get in touch with the receiver’s bank and it will thereafter, as a matter of duty, inform the receiver and seek his consent to withdraw the money and send it to the rightful owner. If the receiver gives consent, the matter will be resolved but if not, the complainant would have to take steps to prevent the receiver from withdrawing the money from his account by employing a lawyer to make an application to the High Court.
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