Stamp duty charge has been a trend that is not going well with a lot of Nigerians, and if you are here, you may even belong to the aggrieved group (who is not pleased with the new policy) or you are just someone who wants every kobo/cent of your money from your bank account. Unless you are using kolo/piggy bank, you may not be able to get all the cent. Banks too are in business, of which they also recruit staff to the cause. But then, they are offering a service to you and many others, and they have to get something in return for service offered, pay staff, and even grow.
However, when bank charges are becoming bogus such as it now extends to stamp duty, you as a Nigerian may be feeling the beneficiary don't deserve a pinch of your sweat. For some of you, the reason being you are just being stingy *runs away.
Now that you are here then, let's go down to the business (of invading stamp duty charges)
here are my 3 ways to waiver stamp duty charge and other bank charges
1. Use alternatives to traditional banks
Alternatives to traditional banks are internet-based banks (which are now on the rise) and there's a handful of them from which one can choose from. There is a variety of online payment and deposit platforms, loan/lending platforms, as well as investment platforms with robust services/in their web and mobile apps. Platforms such as KongaPay, Carbon, Piggyvest, and the likes help you save money, make a bank transfer, take a loan, or invest, but the added benefits these platforms offer is the "wallet" in which you can put money and be able to do as many transactions with.
As it is, you can do transfer to any bank accounts and even other finance institution platforms alike, through your wallet with your chosen internet bank platform. As stamp duty charge mostly applies to debit/credit transactions you make through your traditional bank account, you may choose to keep money in your internet bank platform, from where you do your bank transfer transactions among others. How these platforms work is that you add your debit/atm card and use it to fund your wallet to transact. Say for instance you want to send money to me and maybe others, what you do to avoid stamp duty charge (from your bank) for every transfer you may want to make, is to use any of these internet platforms by adding money to your wallet with them, and from there (your wallet) send to my bank account and that of others. You may decide to turn your spending potential into the wallet one-time, such that you won't have to be crediting your wallet/adding money from your bank account now and then. What I normally do is save in excess into my KongaPay wallet, from where I activate transfer to my contacts whenever the need arises.
Why save money in your bank account in the first place, when you know the money would be transferred/sent to others anyway. Knowing that for every transfer you make, bank charges would apply, while stamp duty will also follow. Why not just turn over the money to your virtual wallet from where you can send at will, and avoid bogus rate incurred per every deposit/bank transfer transaction carried out through your bank.
2. Keep money in one-stop payment service platforms
Platforms such as JumiaPay, KongaPay, and even Opay among others offer a whole lot of deals that are common to Nigerians. You will observe our often spend is on bills such as electricity, shopping, TV subscriptions, and the often recurring ones such as airtime, data subscription among others. If you are someone who has to use POS or do bank transfer while you want to do common subscription/bill payment, then you may be hurting your cash with the extra charges which these bank activities incur.
The smart way to go about things is for you to be able to handle these types of transactions by yourself and from platforms that afford you with no added charges, instead of a bonus. Platforms such as KongaPay or OPay for instance reward customers with special vouchers and discounts for using their apps to pay bills, while some Nigerian banks charge you transaction fees for carrying out similar activities on their banking apps. In fact, for every airtime you recharge on KongaPay or Opay, you get a discount or credit back to your wallet as a reward, such which applies to your live transaction or a future one. What more? Many of these platforms also offer shopping services; another common need on which we spend money.
3. Manage your banking activities effectively
As you leverage on other payment platforms and/or the aforementioned, the more you can limit your banking activities the better. In fact, with KongaPay, Piggyvest, Carbon, others, you can ask your contacts pay directly into your wallet with these internet platforms, as they assign you with an account number with which you can use to receive payment from any Nigerian bank and internet financial institution alike, especially for the events of petty petty payments/deposits. While you receive payment via your wallet with them, you also make other transactions like bank transfer and bill payment on the same spot. This significantly limits the activities going on in your bank accounts. hence their charges.
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Do you have any thought/idea on how to save monies incurred by bank charges or other questions, you may let us know via comment section.
If you would want to sign up for internet banking platforms and enjoy free/cost-effective banking and payment service, you may want to click on the brands written in red to register.
KongaPay
JumiaPay
Carbon,
Piggyvest
Opay
Cheers to your smart money moves.
