First Bank Monthly Fee: How I Got My Money Back

Sometimes last week customers of First Bank Limited including myself got a debit alert of N105 being the supposed ‘Monthly Fee’ deductions plus VAT. The moment I saw the text message I was just riled up and wondering what exactly ‘MONTHLY FEE’ meant. My first thought was to ignore and let it slide since it was ‘just’ N105 but the next day I started seeing complaints on Social media and it occurred to me that First Bank Limited had just raised Billions of Naira without a sweat, it was then I realised I had to do something.

STEPS I TOOK

First I read the Central Bank of Nigeria Guidelines for complaints, A few weeks back I had watched a CBN official say that Nigerians don’t complain when they received below par service from their banks and other financial institutions.

I wrote a complaint to Firstcontact@firstbanknigeria.com/complaintsunit@firstbanknigeria.com and copied cpd@cbn.gov.ng on  Friday 4th March 2016.

I got this response from them on Sunday 6th March 2016

Thank you for contacting FirstContact.

Please be informed that a monthly fee of N100 is now applicable on all savings accounts.

This policy took effect from February 1, 2016 and is also subject to 5% VAT.

For further enquiries on FirstBank’s products and services, please call/e-mail FirstContact through the details below:

I read the response and wondered why I was not informed of such fee beforehand.

You can trust that I replied the mail

Please provide information regarding the purpose of the monthly fee and the requisite Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) circular to that effect.

I got another response from First Bank on Tuesday 8th March 2016

Thank you for contacting Firstcontact.

We acknowledge receipt of your mail and have escalated as appropriate.

For further information regarding this enquiry, kindly send an email to complaintsunit@firstbanknigeria.com

Thank you.

Warm Regards

 

I had completely taken my mind of it until I received a credit alert  for N105 with description “REV OF MONTHLY FEE AND VAT” this evening 10th March 2016.

I hope you find the steps useful, Kindly share this post someone needs it.