Usman Abdullahi, a Kaduna State resident, has recounted how Ultracash withheld his N171,000 after he erroneously transferred twice to the money-lending outfit while repaying a loan.

Abdullahi told FIJ that he made both money transfers on May 10.

“Earlier in May, I borrowed N225,000 from Ultracash,” Abdullahi said in an interview with FIJ.

“The loan tenure was just six days, and I was supposed to pay back N321,000 on or before the repayment deadline I was given.

“On May 10, the day I was supposed to make the repayment, I first transferred N150,000 to the Monie Point loan servicing account Ultracash assigned to me, and it was successful.

When I subsequently tried sending N171,000, which is the outstanding amount I was supposed to pay to clear my debt, the transaction failed from my end.

“I was then compelled to transfer another N171,000 to the loan servicing account, and this time, it was successful.”

Abdullahi told FIJ that he would later receive two N171,000 debit alerts on his phone.

“This meant that the first N171,000 transfer I made was successful, and rather than get debited for just the sum, N342,000 was debited from my account,” said Abdullahi.

The Zaria resident added that when he reached out to Ultracash to lodge a complaint, the officials he spoke to failed to confirm the money-lending outfit had received the two payments.

“When I eventually reached out to Moniepoint, the custodian of the loan servicing account, they confirmed to me that both transactions were indeed successful, and that the N342,000 was now in Ultracash’s position,” Abdullahi said.

“I also eventually received a bank statement that showed that both transactions had indeed been successful.

“When Ultracash saw that it could no longer deny that the money was in its position, I was asked to provide my account details so that a N171,000 refund would be made to me.

“However, that has not been done. I am yet to receive my N171,000 back. It has been nearly three weeks, and Ultracash is no longer telling me anything concerning the repayment.

“Despite the huge interest I paid, Ultracash has continued to hold on to my N171,000. It is as if the money-lending company wants to scam me of my hard-earned cash.

“If it had been the other way round, I know the nasty things they would have done in ensuring that they recovered their money back from any debtor or defaulter.”

FIJ sent a mail to Ultracash’s service desk for a reaction to Abdullahi’s complaint on Tuesday morning, but it had not been responded to at press time.