Switch a Future and using my Interswitch ATM card

Posted by Felix Okoli on April 09, 2010 at 23:59:35:

I had been wondering why I keep seeing these adverts about:

- Joke Sylva picking out rubbish in a dump site
- Basketmouth acting like a junkie, sitting by the road side
- M.I. washing car windscreens on traffic 0r
- Stella Damascus begging on the streets to feed her child.

I had been thinking it really makes no sense until I read the underlying statement:

Help switch a Future today everytime you use your Verve or Interswitch card on another bank's ATM.

Later I also went to the website - www.switchafuture.org and learnt about it being a charity organisation meant to help to needy in the society.

On the Interswitch website, I got the following about Switch a future:

InterSwitch, Nigeria's electronic payment transaction and switching company, in partnership with Freedom Foundation has initiated 'Switch A Future', the first ever electronic payment cause related CSR (corporate social responsibility) campaign in Nigeria.

The aim of the campaign is to touch the lives of children who would never have access to an education, by providing them with one. Specifically, each time an InterSwitch cardholder uses their Interswitch ATM or Verve Debit card on another bank's ATM, InterSwitch will make a donation to Freedom Foundation, and by doing so "Switch A Future" for a Nigerian Child.

The 'Switch A Future' initiative is also designed to examine how children's futures are tragically truncated because they are disadvantaged or orphaned with no one to care for them. The campaign would extensively make use of celebrities as models to demonstrate how bright and promising futures may not have been achieved without some form of educational support.
The campaign would heighten public awareness and engender the citizenry's empathy and action to change the plight of our children who otherwise have no hope.

While I applaud the initiative by Interswitch, they could have as well done that without telling us to use our ATM card on another bank's machine. I have had many bad experiences with that and there are millions of complaints about Interswitch ATM card by bank customers especially when using their ATM on another bank which did not issue it. Nigerians are not really bothered about the N100 which Interswitch removes from our account when we use the card on another bank's ATM, but the real issue is that the machines are mostly faulty. I have lost a lot of money from an ATM just after making a withdrawal. Instead of debiting me only once, I was debited three times for a single transaction and even after making complaints at my bank, they have still not rectified this and it's not everyone that likes going to sleep at the bank everyday. I have since resolved not to use my ATM card, if possible, at any other bank other than mine. The last bad experience I had was when I used it at a Bank PHB ATM.

I support Switch a future initiative but I don't support the idea of using my ATM on another bank's ATM due to deficiency in the system and complaints to banks are not doing anything really. I have friends and relations who no longer use ATM card and I agree with their reasoning. When someone tells you that he doesn't use ATM cards again, in Nigeria, he is not being stupid. Nigerians have lost billions in ATM fraud which has not yet been resolved!

Re: Switch a Future and using my Interswitch ATM card Posted by Andrew on May 20, 2010 at 22:40:37:

I agree too. Banks need to do more than they are already doing. Switch a Future is also a nice innovation and should be encouraged



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