On Thursday, an X user claimed that Nigerians will spend about N1,000 to withdraw N20,000 from point of sale (PoS) operators.
The post comes after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that it has reviewed transaction fees for automated teller machines (ATMs).
The new transaction fees will take effect on March 1.
The X user with the username ‘SymplyDAPO,’ said customers would spend as high as N800 to N1,000 for a N20,000 withdrawal contrary to the policy.
“Let me explain this to you Again in case you still don’t understand: As from March 1, You will be paying N100 charges if you use your ATM card to withdraw money from another bank ATM machine (in addition to electronics, SMS, and N50 charges),” the post reads.
“Secondly, If you choose to withdraw money with your ATM card using POS machine, CBN will charge you N400 for using POS, they will charge you another N100 for collecting money above N10,000.
“Then POS agent will still charge his own charges. All in all you will be charged close to N800-N1000 for withdrawing N20k.
“Don’t be annoyed and start fighting POS agent when this thing is done or started in less than two weeks to this day. This is one of the new tax policy of your government.”
VERIFICATION
According to the CBN, customers withdrawing from their bank’s ATMs at the financial institution’s branch, at the mall, or in other public places will not be charged.
However, when ATMs located at other banks’ branches are used by non-customers, an N100 fee per N20,000 withdrawal will be applied.
For withdrawals at ATMs of other banks (not-on-us transactions/off-site) at the mall or in other public places, an N100 fee plus a surcharge of up to N500 per N20,000 withdrawal will be charged.
For context, places where the off-site ATMs are mounted must have had an agreement with the bank to have the ATMs outside their premises. They are the ones who get to receive the N500 charges.
To also identify an off-site ATM, a surcharge of up to N500 per N20,000 will be displayed at the point of withdrawal, allowing customers to make an informed decision before proceeding with the transaction.
The CBN also said that charges for international withdrawals will be based on cost recovery, meaning the exact fee applied by the international acquirer will be passed on to the customer.
More so, PoS are different from ATMs, and cannot be described as off-site machines.
The CBN also encourages consumers to explore other payment channels such as mobile apps, POS devices for payments, etc, if they do not want to bear the N500 surcharge and N100 per withdrawal from other banks.
Depending on your location, PoS will charge N500 to N600 to withdraw N20,000.
VERDICT
The claim that Nigerians would spend N800 to N1,000 to withdraw N20,000 from PoS is misleading.
