Are banks allowed to arbitrarily charge customers for services? Should that be the case, it is sad. My experience in recent weeks with GT Bank is alarming. Not only has the bank slammed on us unjustifiable charges. The bank deliberately decides to keep mute on this, not informing the customer, only to stealthily go behind to dip its hands into the till to deduct for same.

GT Bank debited my account for N2,500, without notice, for a one-page letter of reference confirming I have an account with the bank. Not that they have to deliver the letter, I was handed the letter in person.They had charged N1,100 for the bank statement. I had cause to collect same letter in the past. There was no charge. Nobody bothered to alert me to this new charge.

I have only just found out now that the bank has increased its charge for a bank draft. No one bothered to inform me at the point of transaction. For a draft, the bank charged @N1,400, as I have just found out from my account.

The customer service, as I write have refused to respond to the complaint  I made last week about the N2,500 charge for a letter.

I consider the charges arbitrary and ridiculous.

Next time, before you do any transaction with any bank, ask them if there are any charges.
I know for a fact that GT charges for any correspondence they do on their behalf. Most banks do, as a matter of fact.
Just take it easy.

Banks, do charge for reference letters.

That is our way of doing things in Nigeria.

I dont have the facts.

But i'm not suprised it happened to you.

With the so called education we claim to have.

Our work ethics is deplorable.

You can complain to your bank manager. Ask him/her where it was written that letters are charged @N2,500.

Also that you were not told of the charges at the time you were given the letter.

You need to chase it up. Face to face talk is better.

Nigerian Banks charge for almost everything nowadays. But, from personal experience, I think GTB is relatively better than others in this regards. The officer that handled your request is to blame for this oversight.

I was told about the charges for bank statement, to which I agreed. The deduction for the letter was done 2 days later as I was alerted via text msg.
In any case I had received same letter in the past at no cost.

For bank draft, all banks charge. In this instance N200 for d draft and another N1200 for processing same

BANK CHARGES ARE MUCH BUT THE ONE THAT ANNOYS MOST IS UBA.

NO WONDER THOSE THAT HAVE ACCOUNT IN UBA ALSO HAVE IN OTHER BANKS AND UBA IS JUST FOR RECEIVING AND NOT REAL SAVINGS.

These are some of the reasons why it is a tough decision to relocate from the U.S to Naija - these services are free in the U.S. But in my dear country, you pay for everything and still they treat you like they're doing you a favor. I understand stuff is expensive due to the lack of basic necessities but I believe we all deserve to be treated like human beings. Send out a decent communication to your valuable customers before imposing tarriffs on them to avoid threads like these

ADEOMOLE:

You can complain to your bank manager. Ask him/her where it was written that letters are charged @N2,500.
Also that you were not told of the charges at the time you were given the letter.

So - what will happen? they'll ridicule you, tell you you're wasting their valuable time then beg you to take ur cheap savings somewhere else. The only choice you have is to sue - but then, do you want to hire a lawyer because of 2500? lawyer fees sef na 50000

God help us all.

The essence of posting this is to alert others and make the bank aware that by electing to ignore a ;egitimate complaint made by a customer, she is at risk of losing more.

The banks take us their customers for granted. Indeed, it is the on;y trade where you have unbridled access to your client's funds and can arbirarily authorise debit without recourse to him/her.
Some agents- auditors and ex-bankers are already making money off banks by helping customers go through their statements and fishing out fictitious charges.I am ordinarily careful cos i used to work in a bank myself. Left over 10 years ago.
My advuce to all - take time to go through your statements, especially if your account is very active

kokoye:

These are some of the reasons why it is a tough decision to relocate from the U.S to Naija - these services are free in the U.S. But in my dear country, you pay for everything and still they treat you like they're doing you a favor. I understand stuff is expensive due to the lack of basic necessities but I believe we all deserve to be treat like human beings. Send out a decent communication to your valuable customers before imposing tarriffs on them to avoid threads like these

So - what will happen? they'll ridicule you, tell you you're wasting their valuable time then beg you to take ur cheap savings somewhere else. The only choice you have is to sue - but then, do you want to hire a lawyer because of 2500? lawyer fees sef na 50000

God help us all.

Yes, I so wanted to open an account in 9ja , but after reading this, I perfer to keep a shoebox lol~
Those services are free here even you can print your own statements online, Nigeria need to keep it fair, it is the consumers that keep their business moving!

@ our level of education in Nigeria?

most branches of GTBank have 2 staffs and the rest are casual or contract staffs who have not gone thru the gtb training school. heard the same goes for the other banks.

infact, standard chatered bank seems to be the most reputable bank in nigeria (in terms of ethics)and is mostly run by foreign standards using best industry practises. so for nigerians in diaspora, you can consider them, though they have few branches, not like some banks who are already competing with redeemed christian church of God in terms of branches.

@ charges!

my cheque to a client of mine was returned twice and my account was sufficiently funded. my account officer and the branch manager informed me after they had declined the cheque on the first occassion with a flimsy excuse. the second time, it was my client who informed me. I was in lagos so i went to their  head office to withdraw the money and pay in cash to my client's account despite the security risk involved. I took this option after they had also failed to execute an inter bank transfer within 24hours.

i was shocked when the head operations in the head branch told me my account officer and the branch head has been lying to me as there was no reason to have returned my cheque on the two occassions they did. she gave me an escort to pay the cash to my client's bank.

the worst that happened was that i was charged COT on the two occassions the cheque was returned. another banker told me its one of the games they play to balance their sheet at the branch level!

The games banks play? That is a whole new topic on its own. This thing about casual staffers. I know about the bulk tellers really. But the demeanour of some of the staff makes me wonder too, if the casualisation policy has not been extended to the banking halls. Na wa o!

guy,seems ur new around here,hw do u think dey manage to declare huge profits even at dis tym of meltdown.i work in oceanic and we charge 3,500 for reference letter,i got frm bank phb few months back n d price was about that too or 2000.almost all banks do it and as a matter of fact we regard gtb as a saint amongst us in d banking industry,just try n ensure u use the letters for very important things too

Almost all services from banks in Nigeria come with a cost to customers, all you need to do is to ask questions before you get those services, no assumptions. They are all the same. UBA charges N2100+vat for reference letters they charge N150+vat per page of statement if it is printed on your demand. So do not assume anything understand the details of transactions. If you withdraw less than N20k over the counter they charge you extra in addition to COT. They expect you to make withdrawals less than 20K from ATM, guys the list is endless.

these days i don't know if they even charge you for stepping into the banking hall. i just can't explain some of the deductions on my account.

I am surprised that people are saying "oh banks charge for reference letter". Why would a bank charge it's customers to show that they bank with them. I don't care if they have to make the paper at the bank this is just crazy. $17.00 for a letter that shout be free? This is simply stealing. It's just a pity that Nigerians in Nigeria have no other options. This makes me so upset

thats what you get for Soludo consolidation: more stupid charges.

Charges are a part of the bank's income. One should always try to confirm charges for any services before using them.

This is where competition and options come into play. Switching banks is always an option,

Charges and Service Based assessments should start coming into play for choosing the best banks,

@Poster,
I find your post absolutely ridiculous and bereft of common sense.
How can you come here and start whining when in actual fact you were advised of the charge before your request was carried out?
And if you weren't advised why didnt you seek redress by sueing the Bank?
I ve got accounts with other banks and I know what is obtained when you seek for the things you talk about.
So before you shout blue murder next time,take a trip to any branch of Zenith or Intercontinental Bank to enquire on how much they charge for similar services.
Am sure your shout will be more than this.

Nigerian Banks charge for almost everything nowadays. But, from personal experience, I think GTB is relatively better than others in this regards. The officer that handled your request is to blame for this oversight.

THANK YOU.

@ IFELEKE , WORD.

@ Poster, u can just come here and start posting nonsense about GT Bank, l am sure you were told about the charges cuz thats what is done. Once you ask for a service to be rendered to you, you are told about the charges immediately and when its rendered, your account will be debited automatically. Hey, nothing comes free okay? You can try other banks and see what they charge, and l bet you will come running back to GT Bank. As regards your statement, you are charged according to the number of pages printed out.

Oh sorry, its can't

My was 600 naira for two pages of poor quality  statement of account from intercontinental and they were going to charge me i think 1500 naira(if i can remember) for a letter confirming my account genuiness.They do tell about the chrages but i think these charges are ridiculous,these services should come as standard with your accounts.Anyway that is naija for us.

it is just unfortunate that at least 75% of us cannot do without them no matter how we find it.

Bank PHB is any better i guess cos they charge 2500 for bankers confirmation and imagine if u have to verify 5 share certificate with the bank.Not to talk of signing just e-dividends form u have to part with 2500, this is just disheartening , well i think it is a grand conspiracy between the banks and the Registrars so i would implore the Security and Exchange Commission to look into this matter.

So my brother u are not the only person involved in this

Please house lets fight this massive exploitation in our local banks

@ poster

i will advice you to open an account with Firstbank cos i guess they charge less,

IFELEKE:

@Poster,
I find your post absolutely ridiculous and bereft of common sense.
How can you come here and start whining when in actual fact you were advised of the charge before your request was carried out?
And if you weren't advised why didnt you seek redress by sueing the Bank?
I ve got accounts with other banks and I know what is obtained when you seek for the things you talk about.
So before you shout blue murder next time,take a trip to any branch of Zenith or Intercontinental Bank to enquire on how much they charge for similar services.
Am sure your shout will be more than this.

You talk about someone being bereft of common sense, but you've just demonstrated poor comprehension skills. Where in his original post did he say he was advised of the charge?
It doesn't matter if the charges are higher elsewhere. What he's complaining about is being charged N2500 for a letter without warning.
LMFAO at you asking him to sue a bank over N2500.

Intercontinental Bank charged me the same amount for the same purpose and N3500 for conducting a search for my company name. I just think these charges are outrageous

Nigerian Banks MUST WACK!!