By Babajide Komolafe

The last edition intimated readers with ‘The Guide To Charges By Banks, Other Financial And Non-Bank Financial Institutions’, a CBN document which lists charges that are allowed and the sanction for violation.

This means, the first step to ascertain excess or illegal charges by your bank is to be familiar with the fees specified for the various types of accounts or services you enjoy from your bank.

Take the example of  ‘Current Account’, a basic service enjoyed by customers of banks.

The basic and regular fee allowed by the CBN is called Current Account Maintenance Fee (CAMF). This fee is paid whenever the customer sends money from his account  (either via transfer or cheque) to another person i.e. a third party. The customer also pays this fee when he sends money from his account in ‘Bank A’ to his account in another bank, say, ‘Bank B’.

The customer does not pay CAMF if he withdraws cash from his account or if he sends money from his account in a bank to another account bearing his name in the same bank. Also banks are not allowed to charge CAMF on Savings Account.

The maximum CAMF allowed for banks is N1 per N1,000 or N1 for every N1,000 of the transaction. If the customer transfers N1 million to a third party, the CAMF is N1,000.

Banks are also mandated to charge Value Added Tax, VAT on the CAMF. The VAT charge of the CAMF in the transaction above (7.5% of N1,000) is N75. So, the total amount to be paid by the customer for that N1 million debit is N1,075.

Another basic charge allowed for Current Account and other types of bank accounts, is the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) popularly referred to as Stamp Duty charge. The amount allowed for this levy is N50  for deposits/payment of N10,000 and above  into a bank account.  The banks are not allowed to charge VAT for money deducted for EMTL.

Also this levy is not allowed for transfers between accounts held by a customer in the same bank. Hence, when Mr. A makes a deposit from his account 1 in Bank B, to his account 2 in bank B, he/she should not be charged EMTL for that deposit.

Furthermore, banks are also allowed to charge fees for Electronic Funds Transfer, EFT services. Hence anytime  a customer withdraws money from his/her account, the bank will also charge for ETF fees. The  amount allowed for these fees is graduated by the CBN as follows: Below N5,000 – N10;  N5,001 – N50,000 – N25;  Above N50,000 – N50. (To be continued)