Nigerian lady who left the country in September for her MSc in the UK finds her account frozen by diamond bank on 1st November 2015. Diamond bank claims the account had no registered BVN, facts revealed that the lady had registered for the BVN since February 2015 and confirmed that the account was without issues before travelling out in September 2015.
A Nigerian lady (Name witheld) who left the country in September for her MSc in the UK finds her account which she had been operating since 2014 frozen by diamond bank on 1st November 2015. Diamond bank claimed the account had no registered BVN, facts revealed that the lady had registered for the BVN since February 2015, also she confirmed that the account was without issues and applied for the use of her debit card abroad before travelling out in September 2015. The card had been working fine up until November 1st, the lady thought it was a minor problem and attempted transfering money out to her husband's account which luckily was not frozen, only to find out that the account was blocked. She lodged complaints with diamond bank over the said incident providing her BVN as proof, the Bank replied the next day that it was no longer an issue of BVN but that the birth month on the BVN is different from the one on the said account. Diamond bank requested for documents to prove the birthdate on the BVN was the aunthetic one, to which the account holder forwarded her Passport data page and birth certificate for clarification. The next day, Diamond bank called the lady and said the utility bill on their system is not clear and the lady should provide them with one. SHe explained that she is in the UK with her husband and she does not have access to any utility bill, moreover she had moved houses after she got married hence the utility bill attached to her old house should not be required of her anymore. The lady explained that the account is the main source of her funds and she is already stranded in a foreign land. She has lodged a complaint with the Central Bank of Nigeria as well but as at the time of writing this story, nothing has been done, it is now 17 days since the account was frozen, the lady is pregnant and can no longer concentrate on her studies. This got me thinking, despite all the proofs provided the bank, Diamond bank still felt it necessary to keep the account of a customer frozen even after finding out that the initial reason for freezing the account in the first place was 'null and void'. I am not a lawyer but I think that should amount to a criminal offence under the laws of Nigeria. The problem of birthdate could be attributed to human error, I for one, had the 'L' in my name replaced with a 'CH' when i was registering for BVN, and my bank reassured me that it was not a problem. Subsequently, on the issue of unclear data on the system, it is preposterous for anybody to insinuate that the files stored on a computerised system can fade or become unclear. Nigeria has seen an increase in the exposure to ICT in the past few years, customers now know what to expect from banks providing digital services. Yet, banks like Diamond bank erroneously think they can pull the wool over customers eyes by claiming documents on their system are not clear. There are two ways to look at this, it is either the scanner the bank used to upload the document is faulty or they left it for a long while before uploading it. This is because, if a customer brings a utility bill that is not clear or faded to apply for the opening of an account, the account officer should have notified the customer and refuse to accept the documet in the first place. It is my own opinion that customers should not be made to suffer for the incompetence of any bank in the discharge of its duties to customers. Hopefully, a clamp down like what was meted out to MTN will most likely catch up with nonchalant banks like Diamond Bank. The Nigerian public and hopefully those in the banking sector will see this and come to the aid of stranded individuals with similar situations. If the reason a bank gives for freezing the account of a customer has been disproved, it is mandatory that the bank lifts such restrictions placed on the said acount pending when other reasons can be put forward. It is gross misconduct on the part of Diamond bank to freeze the account of a customer indefinitely and start bringing up lame excuses to keep the account frozen, depriving the customer of their fundamental human rights.
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