Some bank customers, especially those of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), say they will opt for electronic mail alerts from their banks to cut costs and reduce charges on their accounts.

Some of them who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Sunday said they would deactivate the Short Message Services (SMS) transaction alert linked to their accounts.

Dorathy Azinge, a customer of GTCO, described the increase in SMS charges as exploitative.

Ms Azinge said that in spite of various transaction charges debited from her bank account on a daily basis, the bank still increased SMS charges.

”This move of increasing SMS charges is very exploitative, even though they cited telecommunication charge.

”What about all the numerous unwarranted debits that I get from my account, and they are using the increase as the yardstick to increase theirs.

”GT will remove different charges from my account until they give me minus balance,” she said.

Another GTCO customer, Elizabeth Abu, said she would visit her bank to opt for her transaction alerts to be sent to only her email address.

Ms Abu, who complained about the reduction in her capitalised interest on her account, said the numerous debits were becoming frustrating.

”It does not make sense for the bank to charge me for a transaction I did and also charge me for the alert they sent.

”It means that customers are the ones paying heavily for all these services.

” These charges are reflecting on the profits declared by these banks and we are the ones paying for this,” she said.

Clement Arubu, a customer with First HoldCo Plc, said he received various transaction debit alerts from his bank totalling N1,050 monthly.

Mr Arubu said the debits were huge, especially when calculated for 10,000 bank customers.

”Most customers receive these alerts and neglect them because to them, the money is small, but when you debit the same money from about 10,000 customers, then, you can be sure that the money is huge,” he said.

Catherine Itoha, a customer of GTCO, said the bank had yet to reverse over N20,000 debited from her account through various failed Point of Sale (PoS) transactions for about 11 months.

Ms Itoha urged some banks and their staff to adopt principles of fair practice in handling their customers.

”Customers are the reason why banks are in existence, so we deserve to be treated fairly.

”GTB debited me in about four different transactions that I did but up till now, they did not reverse any of these monies.

”I visited the bank, filled forms, spoke to their staff personally, but still the issue was not resolved since last year.

”If this money did not go to a staff, it means it is part of their profit,” she alleged.

Esther Arthur, a Fidelity Bank customer, alleged that some of the banks were making profits from charges on customers for their transactions.

Ms Arthur described the situation as sad and frustrating.

”I withdrew N10,000 from a First Bank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and the machine showed me that I will be charged N100 because it wasn’t my bank.

”When I finished the transaction, to my greatest surprise, an alert came into my phone, and when I checked it, it was an alert of N630.00 against the N100 on-site ATM charges that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instituted.

”This is so sad,” she said.

Augustine Ode, a Zenith Bank customer, appealed to the CBN to check the excesses of some banks that were allegedly defrauding customers.

GTCO had informed its customers of the SMS transaction alert fee increase from N4 to N6 per message.

The bank had said that the adjustment was due to a recent increase in telecom rates.

GTCO also informed its customers who preferred not to receive transaction alerts via SMS to update their preferences by completing the transaction alert form on the bank’s website and sending it to gtbankmailsupport@gtbank.com.

(NAN)