Published 10th Nov, 2023

By Abimbola Abatta

An Ibadan-based data analyst has shared how Kuda, a fintech, failed to reverse his N20,000 10 days after he was debited for a declined transaction.

The data analyst, who does not want to be named, told FIJ that he bought some items worth N20,000 at Taovick Men’s Outfit on October 31 and encountered the problem when he wanted to pay via the store’s point of sale (PoS) terminal.

“When it was time to pay at the store, I used my Kuda Bank card, but it showed transaction declined. And to my surprise, Kuda debited me,” said the customer.

The Kuda customer said he thought the declined transaction would be reversed in a matter of hours at most but he would experience the opposite.

THREE DECLINED TRANSACTIONS

FIJ also gathered that prior to the wrongly deducted N20,000, the customer had encountered two declined transactions when he used his Kuda card that same day.

“The N20,000 issue happened around a few minutes before 6 in the evening. But before then, I needed to withdraw some cash since I had no money on me.

“I used a POS terminal and initiated a transaction of N2,100. The first attempted transaction declined. I told the woman to try the second time, but it was declined as well.

“Just as the N20,000 debit, Kuda debited me for the two transactions amounting to N4,200. After I complained via the app, they reversed the first N2,100 almost immediately and the second after an hour.”

The data analyst said he had to transfer the money directly to the PoS merchant’s account to prevent another declined transaction.

Following the declined N20,000 transaction, the customer said, he reached out to Kuda via its help centre, and the bank said it would take between five to seven business days before the transaction would be resolved.

The Kuda user's logged complaint — The Kuda user’s logged complaint

Kuda's initial response to his complaint — Kuda’s initial response to his complaint

Seven days after his initial report to Kuda, the bank did not reverse the money. Then he reached out again, and he was asked to update the app to the latest version if the failed transaction was not reversed within 24 hours.

“I have called them twice. When I called, they said something like they were yet to hear back from the transaction bank. I have done all they asked me to do, yet they have not reversed my money,” he told FIJ.

In response to FIJ’s phone call on Friday, a female customer representative said she could not assist on the call since the account does not belong to our reporter.

“What I can do is to forward the complaint to our team to get an update for the customer. Because you are not the owner of the account, we are not allowed to share third-party information to people. But I will send the complaint to my team to take a look so they can assist the customer,” she said.

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