6 DIY SMS BANKING SERVICES FOR QUICK ENQUIRIES

Knowledge they say is power, whatever you don’t know is way bigger than you are. I walked into a GTBank branch at Ilaje around Ajah area in Lagos, Nigeria to pick up my Debit Card. For those that have visited that branch will understand what I mean when I say the banking hall was as crowded as Oshodi market.

Different customers with different issues on their account, as I was about approaching the Customer Service Officer at the branch for my request, I overheard two different customers saying they were expecting inflow into their account and want to check their account balance if the cash has been paid.

I said to myself if only these customer’s understood how the SMS Banking works, am sure they wouldn’t have bothered coming to the banking hall. 90% of the transactions we visit the bank for are transactions we can initiate ourselves using Self-service options.
One of the self-service options is the SMS Banking also known as the Text
messaging option whereby customers initiate transactions using their
registered mobile number, by just sending a text message with the reason to a
designated mobile number. The text message must be sent using the same phone
number the customer receives alert on. There are so many SMS Banking services
by GTBank that has been designed to help decongest the banking hall.
We shall be looking at 6 quick enquiries that customers can initiate
themselves using the SMS Banking Platform.

1. ACCOUNT NUMBER ENQUIRY: Most people are not used to having their account
number by heart, some even leave their houses on a hot afternoon going to the
bank just to get their account numbers. Something they can easily get by
sending a simple text message.
To get account number using your registered mobile number, type MY ACCOUNT as
a text message and send to 08076665555.
E.g: 0122345689 send to 08076665555

2. ACCOUNT OFFICER’S DETAIL: Have you ever woken up on a peaceful bright
morning to realize that you have a debit alert for transaction you know
absolutely nothing about? Or that the request you initiated some days ago
that was supposed to have been treated is still pending and all effort to
call your bank proved abortive as all the agents were busy? At this point
you would be filled with rage and would definitely need somebody to explain
the situation to you. Assuming you have mobile number of the guy that manages
your account (Account Officer), you won’t need to worry but to call him and
clarify the issue immediately. To get your account officers detail,
type CONTACT, NUBAN ACCOUNT NUMBER send to 08076665555.
E.g: CONTACT 0122345689 send to 08076665555

3. ACCOUNT BALANCE: For my friends that visited the crowded GTBank branch at
Ajah just to get their account balance, they would have gotten that information
without leaving their houses if they knew this process. To get balance, type
BAL, NUBAN ACCOUNT NUMBER send to 08076665555.
E.g: BAL 0122345689 send to 08076665555

4. CARD HOTLIST: Card Hotlist is another name for Card Block. For lost debit
cards, misplaced debit cards or compromised debit cards, it is always advised
to block such cards as you might start getting unauthorized transaction alerts
on your phone. Both the Debit and Credit Card have some very sensitive information
on them, information that can be used to initiate transactions online even without
the physical card. Learn more about Card. The best and fastest ways to block a
compromised card is through the SMS Banking Platform. To hotlist your card using
this method is to type HOTLIST, NUBAN ACCOUNT NUMBER send to 08076665555.
E.g: HOTLIST 0122345689 send to 08076665555

5. ACCOUNT STATEMENT: Requesting for Account Statement can also be done using
the SMS Banking Platform, there is no point visiting the banking hall to get
account statement. Some organization might request for it from their staffs,
maybe to confirm transaction or to balance their books and probably might not
have the time to visit the bank or initiate that on the Internet Banking Platform.
To get the statement, type MY STATEMENT NUBAN to 08076665555
E.g: MY STATEMENT 0122345689 send to 08076665555

6. STOP CHEQUE REQUEST: Making that request for an already issued cheque to
be stopped has now been made easy under the SMS Banking Platform, we have had
cases where fraudster’s call to confirm cheque from another customer’s account,
how they got that cheque is a conversation for another post. The customer care
agent goes the extra mile to authenticate this fraudster thoroughly just to make
sure that he was actually the account holder, then after a short while, another
call comes in requesting for that particular cheque to be stopped, saying that
he (the rightful account holder) did not issue out that cheque.
This cheque can be stopped by the rightful account holder via the SMS Banking
Platform instead of taking time to call the bank cos the fraudster would have
even made away with the cash while waiting on the queue to speak with his bank.
To stop cheque type STOP NUBAN Cheque Number to 08076665555.
E.g: STOP 0122345689 CHEQUE send to 08076665555

Note: This text messages must be sent using the same mobile number the customer
receives alert on and the requests must also be sent to that particular mobile
number (TEXT ONLY). There are some other interesting request that can be done
using the SMS Banking Platform of GTBank like Reset Token, Block Account, Complaints etc.

Hope this has been insightful, please feel free to drop a comment below on your observation.
Still researching on SMS Banking for other banks, once that search is complete, we will
definitely drop it like it’s hot.