Some bank customers in Jos, Plateau and its environs have reacted to the reintroduction of charges on the use of Automatic Telex Machine (ATM) cards.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Wednesday, some of the respondents said the re-introduction amounted to a policy summersault by the apex bank.
Rufai Dasam told NAN that the reintroduction was rather traumatic and counterproductive.
He said that it had conflicted with the CBN’s cashless policy.
Dasam who operated both Skye Bank and GT Bank ATM cards said that he was not satisfied with the reason advanced by the CBN for the return to charges on ATM’s.
According to him, the initial removal of the charges has led to sanity in the system, to the extent that most ATM’s are no longer running out of cash.
He said that prior to the removal, most banks ATM’s were cash-strapped which made the system then less fancy.
Dasam said that the improvement in services, which the initial removal of the charges brought, stood to be rubbished.
He expressed the fear that epileptic ATM services might return with the re-introduction of charges.
Another respondent, Dorcas Christopher, a customer with one of the first generation banks said that the resort to charges the apex bank was rather curious.
She the removal of charges gave her the liberty to use the nearest ATM at no cost.
“The return to charges and the re-introduction of charges on the high side is worrisome.
“ This calls for a re-visitation. It is either it is reduced or totally cancelled, “ she said.
Dorcas also expressed the fear that the development might affect customers’ patronage of ATM services.
She also said that it ran contrary to the cashless policy of the CBN.
Aaron Abutu, who also uses ATM, however described the reintroduction of charges as okay.
“I don’t see anything wrong with the reintroduction of ATM charges provided the services are good, “ he said.
He however advised that with or without the reintroduction of the ATM charges banks should improve on their services to customers.
NAN recalls that CBN reintroduced ATM charges on Aug.14 and expected to take effect as from Sept 1.
According to the apex bank, the new charge shall apply as from fourth remote-on-us withdrawal in a month, by a card holder.
The bank added that the remote-on-us made first the three remote-on-us transactions free for the card holders, but to be paid by the issuing house.
