On incessant bank charges

It is highly unacceptable and ridiculously uninteresting to see the broad day thievery and unfavourable acts perpetrated by commercial banks in terms of deductions. It is understandable that charges will be made for every service rendered by an organisation, however, it is inhumane to see that the other party is being cheated, following countless charges at the customers’ peril.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, commercial banks operating in the country as from May 1, 2017 are to pay their customers a minimum of 30 per cent annually on savings account deposit. It was also made known that the 30 per cent interest rate is not applicable if a customer makes more than four withdrawals in a month. I have barely seen a person that has benefited from this lucrative policy.

To corroborate my claim, It should be clearly noted by the management of these commercial banks that most of these savings accounts are mostly owned by low income earners, average Nigerians or even students who are trying to stash their hard earned money in the hands of the supposedly ‘modernized thrift collectors.’

Two NYSC members killed during robbery operation in Yenagoa

However, the issue of the incessant SMS charges is also one thing that is a form of cheating; the bank will charge you for alerts on both credit and debit transactions even when one favours them than yourself. What then is the dividend of banking as a low income earner?

Also, card maintenance fee is not left out, let me say in clear terms that it is fraudulent to charge a person for card maintenance because no bank maintains a card that ‘lives’ in the wallet or purse. Surprisingly, this fee is also deducted on a card that is not used for that month of deduction.

The Nigerian Senate should kindly look into these anomalies by the commercial banks nationwide as this is one issue that has garnered national interest, like those of internet data and high call tariffs were controlled and diligently regularized. Enough is enough on unnecessary deductions by banks

Sulaimon Adekunle A,

Ibadan.