Ade Yusuf (real name withheld), a Nigerian based in Canada, has been unable to withdraw from his Access Bank travel account since May following a Post No Debit (PND) placed on the account.

When a PND is in place, it freezes the funds in an account and prevents the owner from making withdrawals, transfers or any other debits.

Yusuf told EQ that he had requested Access Bank to freeze his naira account in April, after his phone was stolen in Nigeria during the Eid celebrations, to prevent fraudulent transactions on his account.

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Unknown to him, the bank equally blocked his travel account, also known as domiciliary account.

So, when he went to the Access Bank branch in Zone 5 Wuse, Abuja, in April to request access to his account, the bank unblocked only his naira account.

“They said they would issue me a new ATM. There and then, they asked me to write a request letter, which I did. They also took my biometrics,” he said.

“I don’t know whether the lady I met there was a new staff because she was struggling to process that thing. After a while, she told me I could now access my account. I took the ATM card, went out and tried to use it, but it did not work. I came back and complained. She did her thing again, and it finally worked.”

EQ learned that towards the end of April, Yusuf travelled to Canada for a postgraduate course. There in Canada, he encountered the first hint of trouble, in May, when he wanted to withdraw from his travel account.

“When I asked Access Bank to block my account, they went ahead to block the dollar account, which was not what I asked them to do. If I had known, when I asked them to unblock my naira account, I would have requested them to unblock the other account because I use it very often.

“The total money in that account is about $800. When I travelled and went to the ATM, I noticed it was telling me to contact my financial institution.

“I reached out to Access Bank immediately, and they told me the account was blocked. They said my letter did not ask them to unblock it alongside the naira account.”

Yusuf insisted that he never asked the bank to block the dollar account in the first place. “So, I told them that since they have all my information, they should do the needful and unblock it.”

His chat with the bank

His chat with the bank

The bank, however, told him he would have to come back to Nigeria to have the account unblocked.

“Do they even know the cost of flight tickets? I asked if that meant they do not have services for those of us not in Nigeria. So, if one’s money is locked for one reason or the other, that’s the end? Long story short, the customer care agent said they were going to send me a form to fill.

“I had to look for a business centre, and it was very far from where I stayed, got to the UPS office, sat there, did the whole thing there and sent to them the form on May 9. They asked for my passport details, which I sent.”

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The form he filled

However, despite following all the instructions the bank gave him in addition to providing the requested information, his funds remain inaccessible.

“All this while, we had been communicating via WhatsApp. Only for the bank to say I would have to wait until I return to Nigeria before I can unblock the account. This means I’m stranded in Canada regarding that account until I come back to Nigeria!”

EQ emailed the bank for inquiry on Friday, and in its response the following day, Kehinde Sosanwo, a customer relations executive, wrote, “Please be informed that I am unable to divulge information on customer’s account to a third party due to security reasons. Kindly advised the account holder to reach out to us for further assistance.”
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