How to successfully get a bank statement from your bank

This article is a result of a collective effort and teamwork. As a result, we have highlighted on parts where different responses have been offered by the same bank to our 2 researchers. Enjoy.

According to Wikipedia.org, a bank statement is “a summary of financial transactions which have occurred over a given period on a bank account held by a person or business with a financial institution”. It is the same as ‘account statement’ and ‘statement of account’ and any of these three can be used interchangeably.

Bank statements is provided on a monthly business by some banks. Generally, banks will provide it on request. There are various reasons why one could request for bank statements. Apart from informational purposes, bank statements are required when applying for visas. They are also needed when applying for loans.

The usual response when you ask for how to get your bank statement is “visit your bank”. To do this, you will need to apply in person. You will be required to write a letter requesting for the statement, stating the duration. Bank charges may apply and ranges between N50-N150 per page of the statement. Time of entire process spans 30 minutes – 1 hour for most banks.

In today’s post, I will be revealing other alternatives that exist and how it can be done at different banks. I was able to get in touch with like 10 Nigerian banks by email. In a few cases, I also contacted friends working at the bank or a customer service rep. This is the reply I got.

Ecobank

The e-statement is sent to your registered bank email periodically, but you can place a request and include all your necessary personal details via the bank’s customer care channels, the e-statement will be sent to you after a short while.

Send an e-mail to ENGContactCentre@ecobank.com or call +234-800 326 2265, +234-700-500-0000

GT Bank

This bank offers a quick service, all you have to do is call GTconnect, make your request, and answer the follow-up authentication questions. Ensure that you have enough recharge card on your line because call charges do apply.

For e-statement request, call 0700 482666328, 01 448 0000, 0803 900 3900 or 0802 900 2900

Standard Chartered

Though my mail arrived an hour after normal working hours. I was able to get a response under 30 minutes. With Standard Chartered, you can view and download your 6-month bank statement using the online banking platform. The customer care was kind enough to provide me with the steps to get this done:

• Click on your account number in Overview page
• Show filters (top right of the page under Transaction History)
• Select Period
• Download CSV or PDF

I believe this will require one to sign up for internet banking first. Requests for periods more than 5 months can be sent to customer care emails (Callcentre.Nigeria@sc.com).

Sterling Bank

Reply from Sterling arrived barely an hour after I sent my enquiry. For sake of security, Sterling bank at the moment has suspended instructions through email. This means that one cannot be provided with bank statement via email. To view my statement of account, I was told I can sign up with their internet banking platform. Sign up process is easy and can be done in a few minutes.

Keystone Bank

My friend at Keystone told me one can get account statement by email or internet banking. In the email reply from customer service, Keystone reiterated this. Bank statements can be gotten by sending a duly signed instruction stating the duration of the statement to contactcentre@keystonebankng.com. Other than this, I was told I can access my account statement via internet banking by checking transaction history.

Access Bank

In their reply, Access Bank said I can request bank statement via email by mailing customer care contactcenter@accessbankplc.com. Duration of statement should be included in the email. This email statement is free of charge. Access bank also allows for generating a ‘mini account statement’ on their internet banking service.

Stanbic IBTC

Here, I was told a soft copy of my statement of account can be sent through my registered email at no cost. Like others, account details and duration of statement should be provided in the request.

Diamond Bank

Diamond bank were particularly very elaborate in their reply, something I loved. According to the response, PDF format account statements are usually sent to customers monthly. For security reasons, customers are required to input their security pin to be able to access the statement.

Likewise, statements can be viewed/downloaded by logging into the Online banking service. I was provided with the following steps to achieve this;

• Log in to your Diamond online banking with your user name and password
• Go to account summary
• Select the account number
• Click on export Statement. (You may also select the other options quick statement or custom statement to view your statement)
• Fill in the required dates
• Click ok to Generate statement.
• Check the export format you prefer and then ok.
• You can open to view or save as document

Omawumi: enquiries@diamondbank.com or 0700 300 00000

United Bank for Africa (UBA)

Francis: I first called a friend at UBA and he briefed me that I can get an account statement through Online Banking for last 5 transactions only. On contacting customer care through email, I was told I can view/download statement of account on U-direct (UBA Online Banking Service). Though it was not specific the duration that can be downloaded.

Omawumi: It took me approximately four hours to get my June E-statement. All I did was send a mail to customer care. I got a response an hour later asking me what time period I needed the statement to cover, to which I responded appropriately. I then got a call from a customer care representative asking me a few random questions about my account, ten minutes later I got the E-statement in my mail.

Contact: cfc@ubagroup.com . 01-2808-UBA, 01-280882201-6319822, or 0700-CALL-UBA.

First Bank

I got an automated reply immediately after my email enquiry. The main reply arrived the next morning. Regardless, it was succinct and had all the information I requested for. To get statement of account via email, you have to call firstcontact phone lines (0700 FIRSTCONTACT (0700 34778 2668228), 01 448 5500, 07080625000. However, you must be on the email alert platform to be considered for this service.

Another alternative is to download it from firstonline which is First Bank’s Online banking service. To download from firstonline I was told to follow these steps;

• Login to firstonline
• Click on account view
• Click on download

Zenith Bank

I called Zenith Bank Customer service and was put on hold for about 6 minutes. When I got through, the customer service representative told me that bank statements can be gotten by making a request through my registered email. Also it can be accessed via Zenith’s Online Banking platform.

 

From what I gathered across these banks, the account statement gotten online does not come stamped. It is only for informational purposes. In a case where a stamp is needed (like Visa applications), one has to visit the bank. There is also no provision for having it posted to you via courier.

 

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