What is a domiciliary account? Detailed explanation

If you’re living in Nigeria, you will definitely come across a domiciliary account especially now that making online payments with the naira debit card has been reduced drastically to just $20 per day.

For most people, the question is what is the way forward?

The answer is by getting a dollar card.

However, in order to get a dollar card in Nigeria, you must have a domiciliary bank account.

Now the question being asked by people is;

What is a domiciliary account, what is it all about, the reason to have a Dom account, the benefits, and requirements, and how to get started?

This, I will explain right in this article.

Now let’s proceed to that.

What is a domiciliary account? 

A domiciliary account is a type of savings or current account whereby funds are saved in foreign currency like the US dollar, Euro, and British Pounds.

A domiciliary account helps a bank customer to have funds in a foreign currency other than the Nigeria naira.

Mostly, the available currency to save funds in a domiciliary account is the US dollar, Euro, and British Pound.

If you have a dollar domiciliary account and you want to receive CAD into the Dom account, it will be converted to US dollars and deposited straight into your account.

And same goes for other currencies.

You have to open a domiciliary account based on the funds you usually receive and which can be dollars, Euros, or pounds.

Some banks will give you the option to open all three Dom accounts. 

For example.

If you’re opening a domiciliary account with gtbank, they will give you the option to select the Dom account you want and which can be a Dollar Account, a Euro Account, or a Pounds Account.

You can choose to open the three available Dom accounts and the bank will give you three account numbers for the Dom accounts.

Remember, if your main purpose for opening a Dom account is for online payment, then you have to open a dollar account.

Once you have a dollar account you can request a dollar debit card for your online purchases and payments.

Now you have understood what a domiciliary account means, now let’s head over to how you can get started.

Don’t Miss: 

• How to check a domiciliary account balance
• Domiciliary account charges in Nigeria explained

Getting started with a dom account

Getting started with opening a domiciliary account in Nigeria, you have some options to select from.

They are;

• Savings Dom account
• Current Dom account
• Dollar account
• Euro account
• Pound account

1.1. Savings dom account

You can open a savings Dom account if you prefer to have your dollar in form of a savings account.

Savings Dom account helps you to save funds in a foreign currency and it acts just like a normal savings account in Nigeria.

In most banks, if you want to open a savings domiciliary account, it requires zero account opening balance and I’m very sure of gtbank.

Again, this type of domiciliary account doesn’t have a minimum operating balance as you can entirely withdraw or use all your funds.

Does it have an interest rate? 

A little interest but only if you have a certain sum amount of funds in your Dom account and without making frequent debit transactions.

1.2. The current domiciliary account

This is another type of domiciliary account that is similar to the naira current account.

Most banks do offer a Dom current account and it usually requires a minimum opening balance though it depends on the bank.

For Example.

Gtbank doesn’t have a minimum opening balance to open any savings domiciliary account or the current Dom account.

But the likes of first bank, access bank, and zenith require a minimum opening balance.

Does it have an interest rate?

Yes, it does but it goes down to the bank and the amount you have in the account.

1.3. Dollar domiciliary account

This is the most sort after domiciliary account in Nigeria.

It helps you to receive funds in dollars and have them saved in your Dom account.

With a dollar Dom account, you can request a dollar card for payment if you’re the type that frequently makes online payments.

For businessmen and women, internet marketing, and publishers, this is the best Dom account for them.

Once you opened a dollar account, you can receive any type of funds in different currencies into your dollar account as it will be converted to dollars and saved into your dollar account.

For example.

You mostly receive funds in YEN and very few banks offer a Yen Dom account.

Now if you used your dollar account to receive funds in Yen, the bank will first convert the money and deposit the dollar equivalent into your dollar account.

This also applies to other foreign currencies.

1.4. Euro domiciliary account

A Euro domiciliary account comes in handy if you frequently receive funds in euros.

Opening a euro Dom account is very good as long as you receive funds in euros.

Other than that, I don’t really see the need to open a euro Dom account as most online payments are in dollars or on some occasions in pounds.

Banks do offer Euro debit cards though it’s just a few banks and this is quite costly compared to the dollar debit card. 

Euro debit card is good for businessmen and women transacting in Euro.

So in order to have a Euro debit or credit card, you must have a Euro domiciliary account.

1.5. Pounds domiciliary account

This is quite common and makes it possible to receive and save funds in pounds.

You can also request a pound debit card for your online payments.

However, pounds debit card is quite costly when compared to a dollar card, and a Euro card though it depends on the bank.

For Example.

The last time I requested a dollar card, I was charged N5000 equivalent in naira.

The same day I requested a pound dollar card and was charged a whopping N8000 along with the annual maintenance fee which amount to N15000.

So when opening a domiciliary account in Nigeria, you should have these in mind if you want to open a savings or current Dom account, dollar account, Euro account or pound domiciliary account.

Opening a domiciliary account in Nigeria

To open a domiciliary account in Nigeria, you must go to the bank along with the necessary requirements.

The requirements needed from a person to open a domiciliary account in Nigeria include the followings;

• A passport photograph.
• A utility bill like the electricity or Nepa bill, rent bill, water bill, etc.
• A means of identification like using your nin, voters card, international passport, driver’s license, etc.
• Two reference forms (depending on the bank).

These are the requirements to open a domiciliary account in Nigeria.

Bet you understood the requirements of a passport photograph, a utility bill, and a means of identification except for the reference form which I will explain below.

Domiciliary account reference form/ Referees

This seemed to be a major drawback for some persons, getting two persons to be referees with a current account for their domiciliary account.

If it is referees with a savings account, that is very much easy but two referees with a business account.

If the referees do have a salary current account, the bank will also reject it outrightly.

Talking about the reference form, most banks require two reference forms especially if you don’t have naira savings or a current account with them.

For Example.

As of the time of writing this post, Zenith bank will not require or need a reference form if you have a naira account with them or you are an old customer.

That is not the same with gtbank as gtbank will require two reference-filled forms for opening a domiciliary account even if you have a naira account with them.

Two referees with a current account are mostly needed when opening a Dom account, and at least one must have a current account with the bank you are opening a domiciliary account.

For Example:

You want to open a domiciliary account with gtbank and which the bank requires two referees.

One of the referees must have a current account with gtbank. If you provide two referees from outside the bank, the bank will never accept them.

In My Case Opening a Dom account In Gtbank;

I decided to open a gtbank domiciliary account after seeing their requirements and whereas, the operate zero minimum opening balance and operating balance.

I looked at the reference form and which the bank stated, two referees from any bank in Nigeria.

So I said OK, I’m good to go with gtbank.

I don’t have or know anybody with gtbank current account so I had to get referees from zenith bank and access bank.

The account was opened, the account number was issued to me, and the bank requested that I should fund the account.

I requested a dollar card and it was issued to me, linked my gtbank domiciliary account to my existing naira account in my mobile app.

I didn’t waste time funding my gtbank domiciliary account, and that’s when the problem started.

My domiciliary account was blocked.

I was so confused as to what happened, and I had to call the bank.

They told me that it is because the referees I submitted were the reason my account was blocked.

Lo and behold, the bank accepted one and rejected the other. 

They rejected the other referee from access bank citing that the referee’s signature is wrong.

When I contacted the referee, she was surprised to hear that and stated that the bank personnel in charge must have poor sight.

OK, I decided to look for another referee.

Immediately I was able to get another referee from FCMB and once again, the bank rejected the referees citing that FCMB never get back to them.

Later I realized that was a blatant lie.

Gtbank rejected five different referees I gave to them until I completely got tired.

I was very annoyed with the bank. They shouldn’t have given me an account number and requested I should fund the account.

No transparency at all.

I called the bank customer service representative in Lagos and explained my situation and they requested I should get to my account officer and liaise with him.

That was when I find out that one must provide at least one referee with a current account in gtbank else the bank will keep on rejecting the referees and giving flimsy excuses for the rejection.

I hate the fact that there was no transparency from the bank.

What prevents them from informing the customer that at least one referee must have a gtbank current account?

Well, I had to sort it out with my account officer and within ten minutes my account was unblocked.

In a situation whereby you want to open a domiciliary account with a bank of your choice and you don’t know anybody that has a current account with the bank, please go ahead and open the account.

Now what you have to do is to request your account officer, contact the person and liaise with the person on getting referees.

Mind you, the bank will state “don’t get a referee from someone you don’t know”. But you know that’s quite difficult as you must get a person with a current account with the bank.

So this is the only solution I recommend to you else you won’t be able to open a domiciliary account here in Nigeria.

Liaise with your account officer in getting referees for you.

Remember, it is not the duty of your account officer to get referees for your domiciliary account.

Once you have the referees, you’re good to go.

Bank charges matter a lot

Before opening a domiciliary account, I recommend you to please inquire about the bank charges as it matters a lot.

Unless you don’t care about the charges.

The charges are, withdrawal and transfer charges, and the maintenance fee especially if you have a debit card linked to your domiciliary account.

My first Dom account was with gtbank, they charge high when it comes to money transfers.

The bank can charge as high as $100 dollars and above depending on the amount you are transferring.

For Example:

If you want to transfer $4000 from a gtbank domiciliary account to another gtbank Dom account, you will be charged at least $20 to $25 per single transfer or transaction.

However, this is very much different when using access bank.

At this time of writing this post, access bank will not charge you a dime for a money transfer to another access bank as the transfer is free of charge.

So you have to put this into consideration when opening a domiciliary account unless you’re too rich to care about bank charges.

Black market sellers also matter!!!

Yes, I said it.

Black market sellers matter right now when it comes to opening a domiciliary account in Nigeria.

Why is this so?

Simply because you cannot withdraw more than $100 per day in most Nigerian banks due to the so-called dollar scarcity.

As you cannot withdraw up to $100 or $500 per day, it goes down to a money transfer.

Here’s comes what you need to know.

You cannot transfer money from your domiciliary account to a different bank domiciliary account.

For Example.

You cannot transfer money from gtbank domiciliary account to an access bank domiciliary account.

You cannot transfer money from first bank domiciliary account to uba domiciliary account.

You can only transfer money from gtbank domiciliary account to another gtbank domiciliary account.

From zenith bank domiciliary account to another zenith account domiciliary account.

Now the question is how does it concern the black market sellers?

It concerns them because if most, the majority, or all black market sellers do have an access bank domiciliary account and you have a first bank domiciliary account, you cannot transfer money to them for an exchange.

In my own case, I have a gtbank Dom account and there are no black market sellers within my environment that has gtbank Dom account.

To crown it worst, you can’t withdraw above $100 in gtbank in my state.

The only option is to transfer the money.

Getting a black market seller with gtbank Dom account price to be abortive or I will say extremely difficult.

I had no option but to open an access bank domiciliary account as that’s what most black market sellers in my area use.

This is why black market sellers matter a lot when opening a domiciliary account, especially in this current situation of scarcity of dollars.

Unless your main reason for opening a domiciliary account is to use it for online payment then they don’t matter at all.

Now you’re set and ready to open a domiciliary account.

All you have to do is to go with the necessary requirements needed from you and that’s it.

Opening a Dom account is just like opening a naira account in Nigeria.

Within a few days or 24 hours, you will receive your account number, and afterward, you can request a dollar debit card, Euro debit, or pound debit card.

How much do I need to open a domiciliary account?

It depends on the bank though some banks offer zero account opening, while others require a minimum of $100, €100, or £100 to open a domiciliary account.

For gtbank, they don’t require any minimum opening balance but you need to fund the account just for it to be active.

For access bank, it requires a minimum of $100 or its equivalent if you have an existing naira account with the bank.

First bank don’t offer a zero account opening for the domiciliary account, and they don’t offer zero account operating balance. You must have at least $100 just for the account to be active.

If you have a bank that you fancy opening a Dom account with, simply contact the bank and inquire about their minimum opening account balance and minimum operating balance.

Banks don’t have hide their opening account balance and minimum account balance when it comes to opening a new bank account.

However, they tend to hide their charges. 

What is the minimum balance for a domiciliary account in Nigeria?

It depends on the bank as it can be zero account or a minimum of $100 respectively.

But, it depends on the type of domiciliary account you want to open.

For Example:

Zenith bank offers two types of domiciliary accounts;

• Ordinary domiciliary account
• Cash domiciliary account

The cash domiciliary account offers a zero account opening balance meaning that you can open the account without any money.

But the account is very much restricted as it doesn’t offer money transfers which don’t make sense in this present situation of scarcity of dollars in the bank, and it is only limited to USD.

The zenith bank ordinary domiciliary account requires a whopping $1k minimum opening balance or its equivalent if you have an existing naira account with the bank.

The same goes with first bank as they require a minimum of $500, €500, or £300 along with a minimum operating balance of $100, €100, or £50.

This is one major reason why people tend to move towards gtbank due to zero account opening balance and zero minimum balance.

But the bank will drain you with charges especially when it comes to money transfer.

How do I send money to a domiciliary account in Nigeria?

To send money to a domiciliary account in Nigeria, you need to get the bank name, the bank swift code, and the recipient’s account information.

This is if you’re living abroad and want to send money to a Dom account here in Nigeria.

All you need from the recipient is;

• The beneficiary account name
• The beneficiary account number
• The bank name
• The bank swift

If your question is how to fund a domiciliary account in Nigeria, you can find it through inflow or direct deposit.

1.1. Fund domiciliary account through an inflow

This is the process of receiving money from abroad into your domiciliary account.

For example.

Receiving payments online, someone wires money to your account or any other means.

As long as you are receiving money from abroad inform of a wire transfer, it is called inflow.

So inflow is one of the means of funding a domiciliary account in Nigeria but it may not apply to everyone except if you receive money from abroad.

1.2. Fund domiciliary account using a Direct Deposit

This is one of the common methods of funding a domiciliary account in Nigeria, through direct deposit.

Here, direct deposit simply means to deposit funds or cash into the Dom account.

For Example.

You deposited $500 cash into your dollar account.

As long as you went to the bank with cash, and have it deposited into your bank account, it is called a direct deposit.

Now, this method requires you to get dollars from the parallel market or the black market sellers and have it deposited into your Dom account.

This comes in handy if you want to make a payment online like buying products from Aliexpress, Alibaba, or any other online stores or businesses.

1.3. Fund a domiciliary account through a money transfer

This method requires someone to transfer dollars, Euros, or pounds into your Dom account.

You can also use this method to buy dollars in Nigeria, instead of collecting it in cash you should request a transfer.

This saves you the time of going to the bank to deposit the money into your account.

These are the ways you can use to fund your domiciliary account in Nigeria.

Charges on domiciliary account

Charges on a domiciliary account depend on the bank as banks do have different charges for a Dom account.

For Example.

Gtbank charges $0.25 and $0.02 for a withdrawal below $500, while they charge $0.50 and $0.04 for a withdrawal of $1k.

If you withdraw $4k, then the bank will charge you $2 and $0.16.

They called it commission on fx withdrawal and vat commission on fx withdrawal.

Other charges are the money transfer charges which range from the amount you’re transferring and the bank you have a Dom account with.

Gtbank will charge you $20 for every $4k you transfer from your Dom account.

They will charge you $10 for every 2k dollars you transfer from your Dom account, etc while access bank has no charges when transferring money from an access bank Dom account to another access bank Dom account.

Can I pay naira into my domiciliary account?

The answer is no. You can’t pay naira into a domiciliary account but rather pay naira into a naira account.

You can’t find your Dom account with naira, I’m sorry that is not possible.

Simply locate a black market seller and buy dollars from them.

Mind you, banks can’t fund dollars into your dollar account and take the naira equivalent from your existing naira account.

That is not possible.

Your only means is through inflow and direct deposit by getting dollars, euros,s or pounds from the black market sellers.

Can I withdraw all the money from my domiciliary account?

You can withdraw all the money in your domiciliary account except if your bank do have a minimum operating balance.

If your bank does have a minimum operating balance, I’m sorry you can’t withdraw the entire money in the account.

Here, the minimum operating balance is the sum amount of money the bank requires a customer to have in his or her bank account in order for the account to function and be active.

Withdrawing the whole money means that you want to close your bank account.

Bank will never allow you to withdraw the whole money except if you tell them that you want to close the account.

For Example.

Gtbank offers a zero minimum operating balance for their domiciliary account, while first is $100, €100, or £50 respectively.

This is very essential when opening a domiciliary account.

First, make inquiries before you conclude that this is the bank you will use for your Dom account.

Benefits of having a domiciliary account

Below are the benefits of having a domiciliary account in Nigeria;

• Receive and save funds in foreign currency.
• For easy online payment using a dollar debit card, Euro card, or Pounds debit card.

This two are the main benefits of having a domiciliary account in Nigeria.

Disadvantages of domiciliary account

Cash withdrawal is the main disadvantage of having a domiciliary account.

Previously, this was not the case as you can easily withdraw cash from your Dom account, but right now it is very frustrating due to the scarcity of funds.

In my state, gtbank will tell you that they will only issue a maximum of $100 per day.

Access bank will tell you that they don’t have funds to give to you.

However, the fun part of it is that when you go to the black market seller to buy dollars, they have it readily available.

Banks don’t have dollars but black market sellers do have enough with them.

It is no about having and funding a domiciliary account, but rather withdrawing the money as presently it is quite difficult to withdraw cash from a Dom account.

For now, this is all I have for you on opening a domiciliary account in Nigeria.