THE fear of losing a credit facility and lack of financial literacy, among other reasons, have been attributed as major reasons behind the unabated charges imposed on customers by many Nigerian banks.Although there are efforts towards enhancing customer protection and financial literacy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the need for openness on the part of customers has been emphasised in order to reduce the unfair charges imposed on them by banks.In a chat with The Guardian recently, a Finance consultant and Managing Director, Kenob-Lyn Nigeria Limited,, Kenneth Nwachineke, said despite the warning by the Central Bank of Nigeria to banks over exorbitant lending rates and excessive charges that they impose on their customers, there are still complaints about such charges.The apex bank had noted that the practice discouraged savings and does not promote healthy banking practice in the country, saying, for an industry that thrives on trust and confidence, excessive bank charges do not bode well for long-term sustainability and stability.Nwachineke observed that with the trend, many commercial banks paid as little as one to three per cent on deposits while keeping lending rates high.'One of the core businesses of banks is lending. However, there are times when there are errors in the charges associated with the credit facility. But the fear of losing such facility makes some bank customers to suffer in silence rather than making official their complaints', he saidThere are four implications of not making complaints about banks' excess charges: if the error is not complained about, the charges will continue unabated and uncorrected; there is a tendency for the error to repeat itself; in the case of an over-draft facility, the configuration error otherwise known as excess charges will be added to the outstanding balance, thus leading to double charges and reducing the value of the initial amount of facility granted to the customer', he added.As a firm of forensic accountants, we help many businesses with re-computing various bank charges with the aim to recover excess bank charges, especially those that were hidden in the bank statements and credit facility over several years.He added that the extremely low rates paid to savers and depositors pose a major dis-intermediation risk and are inconsistent with the development goals of financial inclusion.Under section five of its recently issued Monetary Credit, Foreign Trade and Exchange policy guidelines for fiscal years 2012/2013,the CBN stated that it would continue, 'to maintain the consumer protection office at its head office and branches to enable members of the public forward their complaints against banks.'According to the banking watchdog, 'Where any of the cases is proved, the bank (CBN) shall be required to make necessary amends', adding that, 'The measures are aimed at encouraging good banking habits and promoting efficiency in the delivery of financial services as well as boosting public confidence in the system.
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