Customers lament over N6.98 USSD charges by banks, telcos
By Aanuoluwapo Olaleye, Abuja
Bank customers on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the introduction of N6.98 on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charges in Nigeria.
Bank customers early in the month started to see a notice to pay N6.98 for each transaction session.
USSD is a critical channel for delivering financial services, especially for those who do not have access to physical banking infrastructure or internet services.
“Welcome to USSD Banking,” one notice said. “Please note, a N6.98 network charge will be applied to your account for banking services on this channel.”
Speaking with Nigerian NewsDirect in Abuja, a customer with Access Bank at Wuse Market Branch, Mr. Chinedu Nwankwo said, “if it was only the N6.98 charges, it will have been fair to bank customers.
“Banks take more from their customers.”
He complained bitterly that there are other hidden charges like stamp duty, which is now called and maintenance charges imposed by banks on customers.
He stated that his only pain is that the decision was put in place by high authorities and there’s nothing a normal man can do about it.
He expressed further that, “These unnecessary and excessive bank charges are too much. At a point, I wanted to close my account, but I feels what is the assurance that I’m going to get better bank without such charges.
“All banks in the country are birds of same feathers that flock together. it’s a pity that we are in a country where customers have no choice.”
Chinedu further stated that “Banks are supposed to know that they are the ones to support customers with attractive interest to their money, and not to keep taking from them using different methods.”
Another customer of First bank, Amaka Simon said that although she is lucky to be banking with First Bank as they do not have so many charges as recorded in other banks, complained that on every card she recharges, an amount of N20 is being deducted apart from the N6.98 charges.
According to her, “I have no choice and it will be a shame that this policies stops me from doing USSD transactions.”
In addition, a customer with Zenith Bank at Wuse Garki Branch, Ikechukwu Ugweze said that “To me it’s another conspiracy between the banks and telcos.
“If at all there is need to charge customers for USSD transactions, it shouldn’t be as high as N6.80.
“How much does it cost to send an SMS across different networks?”
The decision to charge users was reached in March by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The decision was part of an agreement reached with deposit money banks following a disagreement between banks and telecom firms over USSD and other text message transaction requests.
“Effective March 16, 2021, USSD services for financial transactions conducted at DMBs (Deposit Money Banks) and all CBN-licensed institutions will be charged at a flat fee of N6.98 per transaction,” a March statement signed by the CBN and NCC partly read.
The charge is expected to be withdrawn from users’ bank accounts and remitted to mobile network operators, who provide infrastructure for the service to operate.
