Outrageous bank charges in my account, this is unacceptable! It is not often that I make a post because I’m angry. But this post, Outrageous bank charges was inspired by the activities of my banker that I just discovered this morning. I wasn’t planning to make any post today, but I got angry enough to hit my computer keyboard, because I’m definitely going to reclaim those bank charges or look for a better banker. Here is the story and I will be glad to read your opinion.
I got a cheque from a foreign firm who places adverts on this website (I do make money online you know). The cheque was for $125. Small amount I know, but that’s what makes the big bucks when it comes from different streams. Well, with excitement, I deposited the cheque in my domiciliary USD account with my banker, one of the famous Nigerian Banks (some are no longer famous, if you care to know why, read this post, .
The cheque was credited into the account and I went home smiling that in another 21days (well, from experience that is what it takes before a foreign cheque gets cleared into a Nigerian domiciliary account), I will have access to the fund. However, I was shocked to discover when checking my account online the following day that the figure credited into my bank account has been reversed. A new figure for $100 was now credited! That was so confusing. I’ve never heard of such before. What manner of accounting is that? At least the cheque figure should be credited and then whatever charges the bank wants to make can now be debited into the account with explanation. Well, that wasn’t the case.
Careless me, I forgot to take the issue up (I guess I was too busy chasing more money online). I forgot all about the transaction until this morning when I discovered that I have been charged another $10.50 for the same cheque (21days is accomplished, the cheque from the foreign firm has cleared). Also, another $20 was charged as handling fees for sending the cheque from Nigeria to the foreign firms banker! For crying out loud, it is just a piece of payer, almost weightless! Isn’t this courier charge outrageous!
Anaylsis of The Outrageous Bank Charges
A quick analysis of all the charges got me angry. First, $25 charged for unknown reason, another $10.5 charged for unknown reason and finally $20 charged as handling fees. That means a total charges of $55.5 out of $125! That is a whooping 44% of the cheque value. So, while I labor tirelessly trying to make money online legitimately, my banker is sitting in the comfort of his office and taking out 44% of the proceed without my authorization. And nobody deemed it necessary to offer some explanation on why my internet business proceed should be divided between me and my banker in a manner I consider unfair.
My Reaction To the Bank Charges
If they had taking 10% or 20% of the proceed, maybe I would have been too busy to notice, but they took 44%. Of course, that was too much for me to forget. I paused my online business activity and made a franctic call to my account officer, ready to express my grievance. Unfortunately, he was not available to pick the call. That did not disuade me from making more effort, 44% of my earning can’t just end-up in the banker’s pocket without me putting up a fight. I quickly drafted an email and fired same with a note of urgency to the customer care service of my bank. It has been over 30 minutes since then, but there has been no respond. My account officer called back and I narrated the situation, he too promised to look into it, but there has been no response till now.
Nigerian Entrepreneurs Doing Business Online Please Help
Am I using a wrong bank?
Is this what other Nigerian Entrepreneurs doing businesses with foreign firms go through?
Was it stupid to have agreed that the foreign firm issue a cheque in settlement of the service I rendered?
What are the best steps to take when disputing bank charges?
Can bank charges be reclaim in Nigeria? I know it is possible elsewhere.
I need answer to this because it was not a one time deal. Another payment will be due soon. (I’m still making money online legitimately though I live in Nigeria!) The foreign firm does not use AlertPay, PayPal, is yet to remove Nigerians from her blacklist. So, what other options do you suggest for receiving money from this online business client?
This is not the first time am dealing with a foreign cheque. I’ve not really been careful to determine if the bank charges was fair or not. However, this particular incidence is a good starting point. I may not have noticed the outrageous bank charges if the cheque was for a five digit figure! I need your opinion on this, especially naija online entrepreneurs. Are you experiencing outrageous bank charges?
Update: Poll added based on readers demand (credit goes to Willo and McNeri) 😉
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Tags: bank charges, Make Money Online, Nigerian Banks, Nigerian Entrepreneurs, Small Scale Business
For sure those bank charges are truly outrageous. I think Nigerians need to speak out more.
Well, I got a response from them yesterday. They claimed that the first $25 dollars was deducted by their correspondence bank. The $10.5 is their own charge, while the $20 is for courier services. So, there is not going to be any reimbursement.
Since I can’t reclaim the excess bank charges, I guess the only option I have left is to look for another Nigerian bank that is more friendly to small scale business owners.
I’m thoroughly disappointed in the attitude of some Nigerian banks towards small scale businesses. Instead of lending a helping hand for such small business to grow, they make life much more difficult.
Isn’t it funny that my banker pay interest on foreign deposit kept by big businesses, but here they are telling me stories on why they must take 44% of my proceed from a small business deal. They have shown that indeed they are “SME friendly“.
As promised, I have now completed the site that I would like you to fwd in response to @McNeri.
I have collaborated with a couple of other folks who had been playing with a similar idea. In short I mean business with other like mined people to bring some positive agenda to Nigeria.
I have a social agenda and it would be naive to assume funding will not be key to the effort. This is the reason I am exploring monetising the site to an extent.
Your support (and comment) is therefore welcome.
Twitter: @Nigeriapolls
Regards
I must say you did a great work on that site. I visited and i was truly impressed. I already participated in two polls and I plan visiting regularly to participate in polls. Cheers
I think you should look for another bank or try another branch when next you want to pay your cheque. Perhaps some bad eggs at that bank are the ones shortchanging you. Using internet banking would also be useful.
@Felix
Thanks for the suggestion. Which bank do you use for your online money making businesses? I happen to know that you’re one of Nigerian infopreneur. 😉
WOW! This is outrageous! I have never heard of such bank charges. I mean, here there can be some annoying fees an such but basically making a check disappear through charges that’s ridiculous!
That is just crazy! omg. i would be screaming.
Hope you find a way around this highway robbery!
@Diva
Thanks for visiting. Since the bank is not willing to reverse the excess bank charges, it means I have to look for another banker who is small business friendly. This one is definitely not good for a small business. Often, online business earns advert income in 3digits. Loosing a chunk of it via outrageous bank charges is simply not funny. I ignored such in time past, but I won’t anymore.
Sorry for the loss, or what can I say? As far back as 1991-93 one could ‘sell’ foreign cheques to exchange people who will sell to traders going overseas for business. The banks in Nigeria have vowed to be both irresponsible and non-responsive to non-big bag customers like you and me.
Why don’t you explore this with your neighborhood Sabo/Mallam to see whether that will work. Even if they buy it at a lower exchange rate, it will never be 44% less.
I know that one day, we will have solutions that will avoid those greedy banks.
Another option you can explore is to talk with your advertiser about opening a paypal account and using it.
Nigeria na waa.
NaijaEcash, I feel for you man. It is getting worse and worse. I just sent my bank written notice to send me a complete and accurate itemization of my mortgage charges which on a NEG-Amortization loan (from rip-off broker) cost me 80,000 dollars in three years added to my mortgage. 40% of those charges are “made up” and just thrown into the pile. Greed!!!! My credit is now shot, equity drops and its all their own doing!!!! And, all the foreclosures in this country is despicable. Guess what? Everyone here is wondering why the banks wouldn’t rather reach an agreement instead of a forclosure?? Ya know why Banks are so anxious to do a “shortsale”???? Because our own government BAILS THEM OUT ON THEIR LOSSES……instead of helping us. Ahhh that felt good!! By the way INDYMAC BANK / ONEWESTBANK stay away from!!!! JA
I know that banks like Sterling bank, Fidelity and Stanbic would offer you a better deal on your foreign cheque. They are more customer friendly
WOW! This is outrageous! I have never heard of such bank charges. I mean, here there can be some annoying fees an such but basically making a check disappear through charges that’s ridiculous!
Sorry for the loss, or what can I say? As far back as 1991-93 one could ‘sell’ foreign cheques to exchange people who will sell to traders going overseas for business. The banks in Nigeria have vowed to be both irresponsible and non-responsive to non-big bag customers like you and me.
Why don’t you explore this with your neighborhood Sabo/Mallam to see whether that will work. Even if they buy it at a lower exchange rate, it will never be 44% less.
I know that one day, we will have solutions that will avoid those greedy banks.
Another option you can explore is to talk with your advertiser about opening a paypal account and using it.
Nigeria na waa.
I think you should look for another bank or try another branch when next you want to pay your cheque. Perhaps some bad eggs at that bank are the ones shortchanging you. Using internet banking would also be useful.
This is so not funny @ all. 44% of your TRULY hard earned money in the hands of another. It’s at times like this that I feel we all are better off getting Payoneer Mastercards and dealing with foreign firms that pay through them. These bank charges no even reach wetin Payoneer go charge you to withdraw from your card here in Nigeria.
BTW which bank be this oh? Na GTB? I’ve been seeing some funny funny deductions in my account but I’m yet to follow them through to see if there are legal or not.
Also thanks for the NigeriaPostcodes tip. I used it to order for my Payoneer Mastercard and it worked. The card arrived after 40 days. Now I’m awaiting my Google Adsense PIN. Hopefully it’ll arrive by the middle of this month. (Fingers crossed)
@Chukwudi
It is not GTBank. I was actually thinking of switching to GTBank, but now you’ve just scared me!
I’m happy you finally got the postcode right. Cheers. 😉
Have been using GT Bank for sometime now. Their service is ok, no hidden charges just like u narrated.
I was actually thinking of trying GTBank, but Udeagbunam who commented earlier scared me. I’m still making my inquiries. Thanks for the recommendation. 😉
LOL. Guy it wasn’t my intention to scare you oh! Besides I’ve been looking @ the charges and they seem legit 😉
@Andy: Please what are their charges like? Fill us in abeg.
lol, what were you expecting, having been bitten once, you should expect me to be twice shy. Isn’t it. 😉
You still haven’t told us which bank made this outrageous charges. Protect the rest of us from this now! 😉
Abi you get shares with the bank in question 😉
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi | StrictlyOnlineBiz´s last blog ..Make Your Blog 10x Faster With W3 Total Cache Plug-in =-.
Sorry Chukwudi, I promote those that do me favor. I quietly let alone those that upset me, except they are outright DUBIOUS. Since the bank claimed that is how they want to do their business, I have the option of going quietly to another bank. So, I won’t publish their name now or in the foreseeable future. I’m already planning to visit GTBank. Cheers.
Am an adsense publisher and GTbank have been clearing my cheques since 2008. Their flat fee for cheques under a thousand dollars is $10.50. No other hidden charges. And of course it takes 21 days for the cheque to clear. For cheques above $1000, the clearing fee is 1%. So they will charge you $20 for $2000 dollar cheque. I think that’s fair enough. Was actually looking for faster clearing methods when i came opun this post.
Another reason why i would suggest GTbank is the ease of opening a DOM account. Just your driver’s license and Nepa Bill and you are good to go. No initial deposit like most banks ask for.
Lastly, please guys step up your game, i feel encouraged when i see young men making out ways for themselves instead of waiting for bank jobs. Some of the employees at the branch of GTbank i use are currently my students, they marvel anytime i come to deposit a cheque. By his grace, i have passed beyond the 2000 euro mark, please $100 is money, but i can assure you adsense is a goldmine. You just have to be a little more creative. One Tip, its easier to make $100 dollar from one website and have 20 websites than have one website and make $2000.
Nice meeting you.
Thanks for the clarification with regards to GTB.
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi | StrictlyOnlineBiz´s last blog ..Spamming et Scamming Via Comment & Contact Forms =-.
Are you sure GT still charges that amount? Or is the fee restricted to checks from Adsense?
Hello Naija,
Udegbunam recommended your blog and I am interested in finding a reasonable way to send money to Nigeria to legitimate workers interested in assisting businesses in other countries.
The exchange rate should be favorable so that Nigerian workers could make a good living while businesses that are being severely impacted by the current economic decline could more easily afford to hire them.
My hope is that they would then also be able to afford workers in other countries where the USD (U.S. dollar) isn’t going nearly as far as it once did.
I would be interested in hearing from you about the best ways to pay freelance workers in your country and also whether you or any others you know who write English as well as you and Udegbunam do are interested in collaborating with me.
I look forward to hearing what you have to say. You can read more about I predict the U.S. economy is not going to recover any time soon and the solution to economic woes for those in every country.
.-= Gail from GrowMap´s last blog ..Support Small Businesses =-.
Gail, thanks for visiting. Udegbunam is one of the Nigerian bloggers I respect so much.
It is difficult recommending a particular way of remunerating freelance workers in Nigeria. The reason being that bank charges on income paid to such workers can be quite high and it takes approximately 21 days to get a cheque cleared into a Nigerian bank account.
If I may suggest, I’ll recommend Payooner MasterCard Debit card as a good way to remunerate. Payment is effected within 7days and withdrawal can be done anywhere in the world.
Another option is via Western Union Money transfer, however, I’m not sure many employer will love to go through the stress of using that means of payment. Life would have been a lot easier if PayPal allow genuine Nigerians to make use of their service. AlertPay is a good alternative, but they are quite slow in responding to tickets.
I will be willing to provide any other support you may need from me. Cheers.
We definitely want to find the very best way to send payment that takes the least time and takes the lowest percentage. Checks sound like a bad idea unless you find a bank that is far more reasonable about their charges.
It is ridiculous that they can’t clear a check in less than three weeks. One other method you haven’t mentioned would be to wire money bank to bank. It is usually considered expensive and like all methods has some risks but works for sending money between at least some countries.
The MasterCard Debit card is definitely one to check. Western Union is a major pain and charges ridiculous rates for the “convenience” of using their Web site instead of physically going to a Western Union location. Even then their charges are significantly higher than using something like PayPal.
What else do you know about AlertPay? Have there been any serious issues you’ve heard of with using them? PayPal was rather slow to answer support tickets for a long time but now they seem to have a lot more employees than they once did.
Another alternative I have seen is SendMoneyHome. Do you know anything about them?
Would you be interested in paid work?
.-= Gail from GrowMap´s last blog ..How CommentLuv Grows Businesses and Blogs =-.
Gail, that is the reality in Nigeria. An online entrepreneur in Nigeria has so much hurdle to summount in other to survive. 😉 We just pray and hope that things will get better. The black sheep among us have done some terrible damage to Nigerians reputation online.
To the best of my knowledge, AlertPay is good as far as online transactions are concerned. However if a user need to withdraw the fund into a Nigerian bank account, he or she would be incurring charges twice. First, from AlertPay and then secondly from the Nigerian bank.
I recommend the bank to bank wire transfer if the amount is over $100. Anything below that may get eaten up in transit (via charges). The banks still charge between $10 to $25 on wire transfer before the fund hit the account because many of them do not deal directly with other banks in the international market. They go through proxy banks that are refer to as foreign correspondence bank. That means extra charges.
I’ve not used SendMoneyHome before. I’ll find out how it works.
I’ll be interested in paid work as long as it doesn’t contradict my vision. Cheers.
It is ridiculous to censor an entire country because of the con artists. No country and certainly not the U.S. has any lack of those. The problem with many is that they always do what is easiest instead of what is right.
Nigerian entrepreneurs have a huge advantage that they can use to generatea incomes online and that is the difference in value of your currency versus the U.S. and other countries. That is why there is so much work in India now and the exchange rate is even more favorable for you than them.
I would need to know more about what your vision is to know how it fits into mine; however, I believe they would be complementary. There is much work that someone like you can do that you can sell for less than people in the U.S. can because a USD goes much further there than here.
You can use the same skills to grow your blog and business as you can sell to assist small businesses in my country not to fail because of the economic decline that is continuing to get worse and will be far worse than any we have ever seen before.
Only those businesses who collaborate quickly with people like you and Udegbunam are likely to survive what is happening – and what I know you need to know, too, as it can affect your businesss as well.
.-= Gail from GrowMap´s last blog ..Affiliate Tips Tuesday: Holiday Promotions =-.
Good discussion but I wonder why the reluctance to name the bank. I see this reluctance to name individuals or businesses, that are alledged to have done wrong, occur quite frequently with 9ja news outlets and I think the attitude should be different.
Providing specifics can help people avoid this bank or might even pressure the bank to seek alternatives or consider reducing these fees.
Sha, good discussion overall.
If there are banks that can be trusted I don’t know any. The latest way they make money off the unsuspecting here is to give them a “free” checking account that automatically moves $75 from their checking account into their savings account each month.
If they don’t have it in the savings account they charge a $35 fee against the checking account and a $10 fee against their savings account. Naturally they don’t actually explain that when they open the account – it is hidden in the fine print.
And that isn’t the end of the fees. If they didn’t know the $75 was taken out they will bounce checks and that means more $35 fees. Even their employees can be charged $35 twice for each check they can’t cover – even if they are only short a few cents.
The banks offer to “help” their customers avoid all these fees by letting them sign up for overdraft “protection” – which costs – you guessed it – MORE fees.
The poor and the wise would do well to be VERY careful about using a bank account. If you have to have one be certain you don’t overdraw it. Using debit cards only is one way but they have other drawbacks.
Gail´s last blog post ..Akismet Deletes Comments Bloggers NEVER SEE!
Hiding things in the “fine prints” and not drawing attention of customers to it until it favors the bank is one way banks defraud unsuspecting customers. The most annoying thing is that it is legalized.
So many people are paying for charges and fees they know nothing about. However, when you complain you will be given a lengthy document (which look more like a case file) detailing how you have agreed unwittingly (when opening the account) to pay such charges.
if there is a problem like this one and what you are doing is advert on your site, talk to the advertiser, if Western Union or MoneyGram could be arranged for your payment, you will only have to agree to be the one paying the commission, which I know is can not be up to 44%.
And on the issue of only promoting those that have done you a favour, and not telling us the bank, don’t you think that you helping to encourage a bad practice, if we stop patronizing that bank, they look into the matter and be the better off for it, think about this!
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Well, I think we are looking at it from different point of view. There are some other good things that bank has to offer. And I’ve learned that many other Nigerian banks are doing the same thing. Nonetheless, it is a personal policy I have for now. I’m not convinced yet to change my stance. Thanks for adding your thought. Cheers.
Well,for your information banks generally will always rip-off her customers whether they like it or not because over 50% of their earnings are from their customers. All you need do as a business person is to have accounting experience or better still have a forensic Accountant as advisor or consultant.it’s always viable than trying the other side. Refer me to any business person that is doing serious business with banks, i will always give a helping hand for a token, because i am a forensic Accountant.
Chris, thanks for the offer. A pity the amount involved for now is too small to accommodate consultation charges. 😉 When the income grows big enough to dig it out with the banks, I’ll remember your offer. I’ve heard of forensic accountants before, but I didn’t know we have them available in Nigeria. I’m happy I’ve met one! Nobody is going to cheat me with frivolous charges and get away easily!
My friend I got your mail and was really glad about it. It tells me someone somewhere is always on this site or rather searching for good informations. Have a blest week and fell free to contact me or recommend me to some other people that may need my services. In addition to what i have said so far i train people and companies in the usage of accounting softwares like peachtree, sage and advance EXCEL for financial modelling. My contact is 08085959383.Do have a blessed week.
Thanks
Hello. I stumbled on your site and have read with mild interest the threads contained. Being a frequent visitor to 9ja myself (8+ times a year), I have been through the wahala variously portrayed throughout your site.
I do however take a very different view of your reluctance to name and shame the errant bank. In my opinion, that singular action (or inaction as the case may be) totally invalidates your relevance as a site to me.
Surely you should recognise the signs of the times we live in in 9ja that people want to see a positive change – including identifying the negative and rooting it out of the system. People want (and deserve)authenticate leaders (and mouth pieces) not ones masquerading as such to fulfill their self serving interests.
It is important to note that sometimes, these masqueraders may not be aware they are being selfish or may not intend to be so. It just happens that the true character of a person shows when the chips are down. That is when you know the brave from the not-so-brave-after-all.
Your comments and or intentions to move banks following the outrageous charges obviously suggests that there is nothing to lose letting your readers see the light so to speak. So why hold back the name of the bank from your readers? Why even bother to comment about it? Do you not care that some of your readers may even this moment be considering using the errant bank? Would you prefer that they found out themselves the hard way? How else would the errant bank know the gravity of its actions if you don’t name them for all to see? What exactly is your point with your write up then if not just to be a vacant blog? Why bother? You see, I am as confused as irate.
It beggars belief that your site would comment on errant behaviour but you as a promoter of a site ducks out of mentioning the name of the bank you have vent your anger about in a write up.
After all if you could be wise enough to consider GTB (which incidentally was REFERRED to you by someone else), why not reciprocate by offering your CANDID opinion about another bank that has got its policies wrong? In a carefully worded commentary, there cannot be a successful ligation against you.
I am sorry that whereas at first, I had started going through this site with interest, the current experience has left me wanting more.
You must be an intelligent guy with obvously above par internet/web savvy. You could differentiate yourself further with guts and a bit more oomph rather than relegate your site to yet another dump for the many gripes of the average Nigerian: a lot of comment, not action. Action in this case includes the guts to call a spade a spade (and not a “earth moving hand-held implement).
Then again, I have said my piece and that is that. Maybe I will visit again….just to see if you are a star or just another twinkle.
@ Willo
Thanks for visiting and sharing your view even though some of your comments cannot be termed polite. You can call me whatever name you like, that is your personal opinion which you are entitled to.
For your information, I have been relating with Nigerian banks for about two decades now, I am yet to see one without serious flaws. It may interest you to know that after that post, which was written when I was quite upset, I have gone round and I was utterly disappointed.
Even the GTB recommended to me had serious flaws which I discovered during my transactions with them. That doesn’t mean I should write a post discrediting them. They have their flaws, but then, many Nigerians will swear that GTB is the best bank in Nigeria. However, my personal experience has not proved them to be the most competent. It took one of their staff several weeks to carry out a task that should be accomplished in less than 48hours. I had to call a former schoolmate to intervene before I got the kind of response I should have been given in the first instance.
Did I run away afterward, no! I have remained a customer to GTB despite that unpleasant experience because I came to understand that in the Nigerian banking industry presently, it seems that the devil you have identified and have learned to cope with is far better than a spirit that is yet to be identified!
My refusal to name my banker that got me upset is not borne out of cowardice as you are apt to belief, rather it is based on my personal philosophy. I sing the praises of those who do me a good turn and quietly walk away from those who hurt me. I’ve had terrible experience from two web hosting company, if you check my archive, I wrote about them. But I refused to name names. Instead of discrediting them publicly, I wrote personal emails to them detailing my grievance and politely severed my business relationship with them. One of the web-hosting company was foreign, while the other is a Nigerian web-hosting company.
Since I did not set out to review the services of the offending bank, whereby I can do a fair post disclosing their strengths and weaknesses I am not convinced I need to name them. I still bank with the same bank, but I have learned not to do certain transactions with them. Take it from me, each of the Nigerian banks have their flaws.
My advice for my fellow Nigerian entrepreneurs is to double check before doing business with any banker. Ask questions and insist they disclose all the hidden charges and put them in writing. Never believe all that the marketing officers tell you. Often, their sales pitch is far from the reality you will meet when you eventually strike a deal with the bank. Demand to speak with a higher officer who should tell you about the small prints hidden to severe as loophole in the contract you are being made to sign. I am talking from experience.
Last year, I had a terrible experience whereby interest charges on a lease facility was changed midway. When I protested, I was told that the offer letter did not state categorically that the bank cannot review the interest rate upward! It took my boss threatening to terminate business relationship with that particular bank before they reviewed the interest rate downward. That was a lesson I can never forget!
Oops, I’m almost writing a thesis. I’ve got to stop. I know I’m a star that will continue to shine brighter and brighter, not because anyone feel so, but because my bible say so. This blog is not sufficient for anyone to determine my worth! 😉
You are welcome to visit my blog at anytime. But if you consider my work junk, then I wish you success in your online adventures. Cheers.
Hello sir!
Your response virtually underlines my point and fortunately, it is telling enough for me to reply.
The point I was alluding to was that simply making a point of mentioning the name of the errant bank is a better space to occupy in my view in the present day disposition in Nigeria. My purpose was not to dispute your bible, call you names or question your worth. I regret that if the wrong impression was relayed.
I don’t wish to have a long drawn out debate on this at all. The fact that you mentioned GTB at all is a credit to you in my view.
For clarification, I agree that all banks in Nigeria today have issues. Period. However, some are listening if the right noises are made especially in the web space. You occupy such a position. Do not minimise its relevance.
I do some banking with GTB, Zenith, Sterling, Fidelity and have relationships with most of the rest. Sometimes, you want to wring their necks. But WEMA has just released a fab product with their hybrid savings account which has a cheque book and has interest added with zero COT! Now that is listening! Zenith never has foreign currency to sell and UBA can at best be described as suave cowboys. Diamond bank can be very unserious (6 months to resolve an internet banking query)…..AND still get it wrong. The list goes on…but I would name them. period.
Going through you reply to me is a roundabout way of buttressing my first post: name them cos that is the only way they will realise they have customers who have a voice and willing to use it.
Regards
🙂 Point well noted. No offense taken over here. I really appreciate you taking the time to write out your opinion.
Back to the issue. You have just listed six banks in your last response. Among the six, it is only two that I have not interacted with. The remaining four have offended me in one way or the other. Like you said, I had felt like suing some of them for using trick to steal money from unsuspecting customers. They are all guilty of poor services and failure to treat customer as king. They make frivolous charges into customers account and use technical jargons to cover up. So, needless mentioning the name of one of them as if it is the only bad one. Cheers.
@Willo and @NaijaECash the exchange above can be brought to a head with a poll on this site. Put up a poll and ask the readers to rate Nigerian banks. I will direct people to the poll and this will be a way of getting that message really out there.
I agree with @Willo that we should become more outspoken however that view will be more popular with someone living in the west where at least the Government “says” they will protect you. In Nigeria, the Government will not even say they will protect you. My brother, I want to keep on reading this blog, so do not mention their names joo especially if they are ‘shady banks’. If they come after you who will protect you? Nobody.Give us a poll or better still, let @Willo write about it on his blog. If you want a place to post it, I will allow you to post on my personal finance blog. I can even help you set up your own.
lol, @Mcneri
Bros, you just brought a new twist to this discussion. My refusal to name the bank is not borne out of fear of someone coming after me. If that were the case, I won’t have the boldness to write the article Free Jonathan Elendu Now!. That post was directed at the government in the days of President Yaradua. I guess the terror of the government is to be feared more than the terror of a private Nigerian company. The bank will at best ignore my writeup or pay a mischievous journalist to do a better article portraying my claim as lies!
Since you suggested us having a poll, I will set up one in the forum section. Here we go Outrageous Bank Charges – Which Nigerian Bank Is Innocent?
McNeri, thanks for your angle. I will take up the challenge by month end. That is a promise.
Re living in the west, I DO live in 9ja. My point is not so much as to court wahala of the security agencies et al but to say that we should be ready to name and shame services that don’t meet the mark.
My personal experience is that these institutions we complain about are very often headed by quite sensitive folks. The problem is that their lower cadre often let them down either as a consequence of poor training or simply a lack of power or willingness to take the initiative.
Either way, we need to get their attention. This does not mean being militant but a mention online usually concentrates their mind. Believe that.
Also, making a vocal complaint followed by a vote from my purse (no matter its size) helps too.
I recently felt MTN was being clever by half with their silliness and promptly made my point and moved! Imagine paying N10k for internet access which always never seemed to allow me use it up. It always seemed to drop connectivity on thursdays and fridays! I went to see them at their Lagos office, politely told them where to stick their service and drive to Glo. I won’t hesitate to do same to Glo too. These companies generally collude to make Nigerians irate.
My take is that they can see that we are getting less pliant and that’s why they are all in ur face with one promotion after another.
The airlines are just another story!
The politicians just need a more challenging constituency to sharpen their accountability rating. These guys just don’t get it!
All across 9ja, I see things that are easy but made complicated by people who get the “leaders” they deserve. Then we go to one corner and moan about it.
So yes! Let’s get a poll running. I will launch it because I think someone should. Why not?
Maybe we will use it to ask every
sector to gauge itself against the people’s opinion. Every sector!
As I seat at this airport, maybe I will work out how to monetise the idea and still carry out the effective message.
Whatever the case, watch out for it. I will dedicate womail2go-misc@yahoo.co.uk for anyone with ideas for this project.
Regards
Well, I will say kudo’s brother. You made your point. You converted me. You hit the nail on the head with the point you made
Henceforth I’ll name the institutions that sucks with their service. I’ll be looking forward to that project because I’m interested in anything that will move Nigeria forward. While waiting for that, I set up a poll at the forum section just like McNeri requested. Here is the link Outrageous Bank Charges – Which Nigerian Bank Is Innocent? Cheers
Well, we learn everyday 😉 I’ve added a poll right under the post using WP-Poll Plugin. Cheers.
Hello NaijaEcash, It will be nice to chat with you privately. Please send me an email: austinepius1[at]gmail[dot]com. Regards