Ugochinyere Eunice, an Anambra State-based point of sale (PoS) agent, has accused Hope Payment Service Bank, a digital financial and payment services bank, of holding on to her N15,000 for eight months.

Speaking to FIJ, Eunice said that the incident happened after one of her customers visited her shop on August 27, 2022, to carry out a transaction. 

“On that day, the customer came into my shop to make a cardless withdrawal of N15,000. She initiated the transaction from her Access Bank account to my Hope Payment Service Bank account and it showed that the transaction was completed,” Eunice said.   

“Her account was debited, but at my own end, I got a message which read; ‘issuer or switch inoperative’. In the end, I didn’t get any money.”

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Eunice told FIJ that she ended up not giving any cash to the customer that day because they both agreed to wait until she received value at her own end.

It has, however, been eight months and the money has still not reflected in her account.

“The customer was busy coming and checking to know whether I have got the money, but the money has still not reflected in my account,” said Eunice.

“She also visited Access Bank countless times and they ended up confirming it to her that the money successfully left their end. They also told her that the money was with Hope Bank.

“I have written to my bank countless times, but they keep saying the issue would be resolved. They have not done anything about it. Even when I visited their office, they continued to act in the same manner. 

“They took my account number and the customer’s account number and advised me to leave. They promised to investigate the issue and credit the consumer, but they never did.”

Eunice told FIJ that she ended up giving the customer, who was heavily pregnant at the time, N15,000 from her own pocket.

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According to her, she took that action in the anticipation that the bank would resolve the earlier failed transaction.

“The plea from the customer that she needed money to buy baby things before she put to bed forced me to give her the cash out of my own pocket with the hope that Hope PS Bank would resolve the issue on time,” she said.

“I reached out to them countless times but kept getting the same story that they were still investigating the issue. Please, I desperately want my money back.”

When FIJ phoned Hope PS Bank customer service unit on Tuesday morning, one of its officials, who chose not to mention his name, said the matter was still being worked on.

When it was made known to him that the matter had already taken eight months to resolve and was further asked for a resolution timeline, he simply said he had no idea how much longer a resolution could take.