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Posted by Felix Okoli on Saturday January 4, 2014 at 17:1:58:

Have you been receiving a N200 monthly maintenance fee alert on your Access bank account and are asking why this is so? Well, I think this post would help you understand why that is.

I had never being a fan of Access bank
back in the days when it was a fairly new bank. Then banks like UBA, Union and Intercontinental banks were among my most popular choices. Yes, I did have an account with Intercontinental bank then and it was an IPSA account which allowed me to pay in cheques and dividend warrants.

However, after Intercontinental bank was liquidated and taken over by Access bank, IB customers were also readily absorbed by Access bank without them having to lose any of their savings and this was a good thing given the way banks like Savannah bank had collapsed and trapped peoples money in the past. For Access bank to secure the funds of Intercontinental bank depositors, I would say it's a good thing.

Later on however, I found out that since my account was transferred to Access bank, I had been receiving monthly debits on my account under the heading Monthly maintenance charges. This was a monthly N200 deduction frm one's account on a consistent basis and if you calculated this for up to a year, the person would be losing up to N2400 just for saving money with Access bank.

I had been wondering how this maintenance charges came into effect and if it was all bank customers were being charged like this. You could imagine that someone who opened a savings account in Nigeria with about N100,000 and traveled abroad, stayed for 10 years and come back may end up only receiving a balance of N76,000 after that 10 years. I mean, people opene savings account because they want to save money and not because they want banks to charge them for saving money.

I've been doing some research lately in order to really understand what this monthly charges means and if there were any way to avoid having to pay for it. I mean, if it were possible for an Acccess bank account holder to avoid paying the N200 monthly fee, I think a lot of them would go for it.

There had been lots of complaints mostly from former Intercontintental bank customers as a result of the fact that they don't really approve or appreciate this monthly charges but I guess it's because most of them don't really understand why this is so.

One way I found out why Acces bank normally charges people a monthly charge of N200 is by visiting their website. On their website, there is a bank account called Gold current account and this is basically a current account that attracts an interest rate as well as a monthly debit of N200. The problem is that lots of Intercontinental bank IPSA account holders did not know that their former accounts have been upgraded or migrated to a Gold current account.

For most people who actually opened a Gold current account directly from Access bank, I guess they won't really be surprised or feel cheated when they see the monthly maintenance charges on their account since they were aware of it. However, for people like me who were just migrated to a Gold current account from an IPSA account which was a savings account, it can be confusing.

Since I also have an internet banking service with Access bank, I was able to notice that my account type says Gold current account. So, if you go to any Access bank and ask about the charges attached to a Gold current account, they'd probably tell you that it is normal.

So, if you were a former IPSA account holder with Intercontinental bank and now alarmed by the monthly maintenance charges, it's because your account has now being migrated to a Gold current account. If you however don't wish to continue getting charged a N200 monthly maintenance charge, I guess the other option would be to migrate your Gold current account to an ordinary savings account with Access bank. Just file an application at any branch and they should do that for you.

For those who opened their accounts directly with Access bank, I guess they shouldn't be surprised since it is part of the features listed in the account manual given to you before you opened it.

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Comments:

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Re: Why does Access bank charge a monthly N200 maintenance fee? Reply by Oge on Wednesday January 22, 2014 at 17:35:19:

They no longer pay any interest! there was a time i left over 400k for more than 3months,no kobo was added,yet they kept deducting the 200 naira & vat. I think the best thing to do is for me to close the acct & i sure will do that as soon as time permits me




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Re: Why does Access bank charge a monthly N200 maintenance fee? Reply by Felix Okoli on Wednesday January 22, 2014 at 17:35:19:

I just checked my account statement online for 2013 and noticed that they actually did not pay me any monthly interest except for May and December. It seems you are right - They don't seem to be paying interest.


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Re: Why does Access bank charge a monthly N200 maintenance fee? Reply by Dr Obi Marizu on Tuesday February 25, 2014 at 11:34:57:

Access bank should be watched because the practice of not paying monthly interest and deducting monthly N200 for the so-called maintenance service is fraud.Its sad that Nigeria do not have any functional financial regulatory authority to regulate its many 419 banks. My strong advice is that the customers should close their accounts and go to another bank and lets see how the FAT CATS at the Access bank will survive.




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Re: Why does Access bank charge a monthly N200 maintenance fee? Reply by Felix Okoli on Tuesday February 25, 2014 at 11:34:57:

Actually, I found out that the charge was common with Gold current accounts. You can avoid the charge by simply migrating to a different account like Premier savings account. I did that for mine and it basically requires writing a formal letter to the branch manager requesting for an account migration from Gold current to premier savings.


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Comments:
Re: Why does Access bank charge a monthly N200 maintenance fee? Reply by Winifred Love Otse-Ugwu on Saturday July 19, 2014 at 7:46:25:

The #200 monthly maintenance charge on gold current account has been waived, effective may 2014.

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