Nearly per week after the CBN revoked Eyowo’s Microfinance financial institution license, its customers are nonetheless unable to entry the funds in the digital financial institution. As a consequence, some customers have resorted to shopping for airtime and cable subscriptions on the platform with the intention of reselling them so as to retrieve their money.
A day after Nigeria’s Central Bank revoked the microfinance financial institution licence of the digital financial institution Eyowo, customers realised they may not obtain or ship money on the app. Despite assurances from Eyowo that it’s engaged on the situation, customers have discovered one other manner to withdraw their money— shopping for airtime or cable subscriptions with the money of their Eyowo accounts and reselling them.
An announcement from Eyowo assured customers that it was working to resolve the state of affairs and gave a timeline of 72 hours. But three days after that timeline, a number of customers instructed TechCabal that the state of affairs persists. Eyowo instructed customers on Friday that it had “made significant progress in resolving some of the challenges you have faced due to the CBN directive. We are working to ensure you have complete access to your money. You will be able to send money to any bank through your Eyowo, however this will not take effect today, due to the administrative requirement that requires a couple of working days.”
Nevertheless, the persistence of quite a few customers is carrying skinny as their private and enterprise wants are being delayed due to the unavailability of their funds in Eyowo. In response to this irritating state of affairs, customers are exploring different strategies to withdraw funds from their inaccessible Eyowo accounts. Even although withdrawal have been paused, choices like airtime buy and cable subscription are nonetheless lively on the Eyowo app, so some customers are buying airtime with the app and reselling them to get hold of money. While some are promoting the airtime and subscription on the market on-line, others are merely promoting it on Palmpay using its Recharge2Cash possibility. “I sent out all my funds using airtime, [but I had to do it in batches because] the maximum amount of airline you can buy on Eyowo is N8000,” a consumer mentioned. TechCabal has confirmed that the airtime possibility continues to be out there however there isn’t any restrict to how a lot you may recharge.
It seems that this technique shouldn’t be novel as a Twitter consumer additionally affirmed that he did the very same factor when fintech platform Carbon skilled an identical downtime in the previous. He tweeted, “Similar 5 days of downtime happened with Carbon, and I had to buy airtime to empty my account… The lesson here is never to keep bulk money with Fintechs.”
Customers who use Eyowo as enterprise accounts have tweeted about being beneath monumental strain from customers. A younger girl who sells indigenous clothes materials Aso oke instructed TechCabal that she has customers who are awaiting orders she will’t fulfill due to the circumstances. “Eyowo is the only platform where I take payments for Aso oke production. All the money I’ve taken for production (about N350,000) is stuck in the account and I’m unable to meet clients’ orders,” she mentioned. Another small enterprise proprietor instructed TechCabal, “After saving and searching for a suitable shop in Lagos for my business, I am unable to pay because of the issues Eyowo is experiencing.”
Under posts on the firm’s social media accounts, some customers have expressed comparable resolutions to cease using the digital financial institution. Speaking to TechCabal, Sandra, a social media supervisor, mentioned, “I am done with Eyowo. It has been one issue after another. My money is still there but I have moved on.”
Several customers, together with enterprise homeowners, seem to be extra understanding and affected person with Eyowo, expressing their gratitude for its efforts to preserve them knowledgeable. Lilian, a web-based vendor, shared with TechCabal, “While it hasn’t been a smooth experience, Eyowo has been diligent in providing updates.”
Another Eyowo consumer instructed TechCabal, “I have not been able to access my money but yesterday I got a call from their customer care promising they were going to settle it.”
It nonetheless stays unclear why the CBN revoked the MFB license of the digital financial institution. According to the apex financial institution, the licenses of the 47 microfinance banks had been revoked as a result of they’d both remained inactive, bancrupt, failed to render returns, closed store, or ceased to keep on the sort of banking enterprise for which they had been licensed for greater than six (6) months. When requested which of the aforementioned Eyowo is culpable of, the CBN refused to remark. Eyowo has not responded to questions on it both.
…. to be continued
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