November 1,2022

Terver Daniel Sesugh, a customer of Union Bank, has told FIJ how his bank continued to hold on to his ₦400,000 after two unsuccessful POS transactions on November 1, 2022.

Sesugh, a businessman based in Nasarawa State, said that on November 1, he authenticated two cash withdrawals at the Parallex Banking Agency, a PoS business centre, in Nasarawa, but they failed.

He said he made a proper complaint to Union Bank subsequently and the money was refunded to his account

However, few days after, the bank debited him the same amount and up till this moment, all his efforts to make them reverse the debit have been futile.

“I operate an account with Union Bank from which I wanted to withdraw some money on Nov 1, 2022. After approving the transaction of ₦200,000 twice, they both failed. But my account was debited ₦400,000,” he told FIJ.

“I called the bank and submitted a complaint on November 2. I was given a timeframe of five working days. As they promised, my account was credited with the money on the fourth day.

“Almost immediately after the refund, the money disappeared from my account and I headed to the Masaka branch of the bank in Nasarawa, where I was told that the fund was in my ledger balance.

“They gave me an assurance that the money would be reversed within 24 hours.

“The 24 hours elapsed and there was nothing in available balance. I contacted the customer care helpline on November 8 and they told me to wait for another 48 hours.

“Rather than sending the money back to my account after the 48-hour timeframe, what I received from Union Bank was a debit alert of ₦400,000.”

By debiting him again, the bank did not just impose a debt of ₦399,858.67 on him, but they also pushed up his total loss to N800,000.

“As we speak, a sum of ₦399,858,67 is now standing against my account,” he said.

“I don’t understand why the bank will subject me to this inconvenience, which is impacting my business. I am fed up.

“I have spent too much money calling them via customer helpline, which gulps a lost of airtime.”

A customer service agent who identified as Doyin answered a phone call by FIJ on Tuesday and told this reporter to direct the customer to call the bank.

Following that conversation, Sesugh called the bank and was told that there was no such transaction on his account, despite his insistence that that was not true.

“I called the bank today (Wednesday) and the female customer service agent that spoke to me said that no transaction of such happened on my account. I insisted that she check properly and she put me on hold till the call ended,” he said.