FCMB loan dispute deepens as YABATECH staff claims bank admitted to N800k error but failed to reverse it since 2021 despite multiple follow-up
A lingering FCMB loan dispute has left a Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) staff member in financial limbo after the bank allegedly failed to reverse an erroneous N800,000 charge it admitted was a system error.
Also read: FCMB bank manager sentenced to 121 years in prison for embezzlement
The staff member, who requested anonymity, told the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) that since discovering irregularities in 2021, he has written to FCMB through his lawyer and visited multiple branches without resolution.
“I had been paying consistently from 2012 to 2021,” he said. “Then, suddenly, my loan balance jumped to N1.8 million.”
Despite multiple visits to FCMB’s Mushin and Ikeja offices, the issue remains unresolved. At one point, the bank’s Risk Management Department admitted to a system glitch and promised to correct it but failed to follow through.
The FCMB loan dispute began when the staffer took top-up loans in 2017 and 2019. He only uncovered discrepancies years later.
Internal confusion within the bank worsened the problem, with conflicting instructions and unfulfilled promises of resolution.
FCMB sent representatives to meet him at YABATECH but offered no lasting solution. Most recently, the bank cited “skipped payments” and “interest rate hikes” as causes of the inflated balance claims the customer disputes.
When contacted by FIJ on July 25, an FCMB representative deflected responsibility, advising the customer to “reach out directly.”
Also read: Court of Appeal orders FCMB to pay N540 million in defamation case
Legal and consumer protection experts say the FCMB loan dispute highlights a troubling pattern of weak accountability, lack of transparency, and poor customer recourse in Nigeria’s financial institutions.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
