ABSA's 'Bond Restructuring'. - "Payment Relief Plan", so they say...?

I have been a customer of ABSA Bank since 2021 and the only account I have is a Home Loan Account. Unfortunately, if I had it my way I would have loved to get my bond over to Standard Bank but that is something that won't happen as they won't fund my property due to the financials not being in order with the complex where I purchased my flat from. ABSA was one of the banks who was so "generous" in funding the property without the complex financials being in order. So much for looking out for the wellbeing of a customer. Buying this place has been one of my biggest regrets and biggest lesson ever. As a bank, you look out for yourselves, not the best interests of a paying customer. To cut a long story short, I am now sitting with a property which I cannot even live in due to a water leakage coming from another unit upstairs from mine and legally the costs of the damages are supposed to come from the unit above mine as the leakage is coming from his side. I cannot live in my place due to this issue and now I am paying for a bond which I can't even live in the place! I have emailed and called ABSA Bank on numerous occasions not only does this bank send you from pillar to post but they give you a "payment relief plan" of the below options as follows:

Dear Customer,

We note your recent request for payment relief on your Absa Home Loan account/s.

We have the following payment plans available: 1. Pay 25% of the monthly instalment for 3 months, or 2. Pay 50% of the monthly instalment for 6 months. • Arrears will continue to accumulate on the account while clients are on this plan and such arrears will be reported to the credit bureau which will influence the clients’ ability to obtain credit. This applies to the existing arrears status as well. • All short term payment plan options will affect the applicants’ payment profile for this account with the credit bureau until such time the account is restructured and arrears removed. This payment profile also retains a history of prior arrears for a period of up to 24 months. • Once this payment plan is successfully completed, i.e. if clients adhere to their reduced instalments for the set period and resume with full instalments thereafter, the client will then be considered for a restructure to capitalize the arrears on the account. This requires that payment of the full instalment resume and is subject to a monitoring period prior to the actual restructure. You can contact us to take up this option as soon as you have resumed with payment of the full instalments. • If a program is successful and clients clear arrears themselves, the account will continue to be monitored for another 12 months during which time the status of the account could affect applications for credit within the organization. • If a program is successful and arrears are cleared by the bank through a restructure, the account will continue to be monitored for another 24 months during which time the status of the account could affect applications for credit within the organization. • The flexi reserve facility will not be available and clients will not be able to use such a facility for up to 24 months after the arrears have been cleared. They will also not be able to apply for further advances during this period. • All arrangements are subject to approval and cannot be guaranteed up front. We will however be in contact should this application be declined. Clients are required to continue paying their normal instalments until the commencement date of the arrangement as mentioned above. Debit order payments will adjust automatically once an arrangement has been approved and finalized.

Kindly reply to this message should you be interested in one of the above plans and please indicate which plan you are interested in.

Kind regards

NOW you tell me, in what way does this make any sense of a relief plan when I am still going to be in arears after the 3 or 6 months of a “payment relief plan”. I have emailed back asking the following:

Good day,

Please advise how the below is a “payment relief” plan if it affects your credit score in such a negative way after the 3 or 6 months?

Regards Ms. T Davis

AND since the 9th of May to date, I still have not received any feedback as I have sent that same email again thrice. You call in and they tell you to email: *** and I just don’t understand why NO ONE can help me.

I have NOT YET missed any payments on my account and due to the interest rate going up once again, I am in such a strenuous financial position that I am now having to struggle to get by and CANNOT even afford groceries to feed my family as I am the only person working and have been the bread winner looking after my siblings and my mom who is a pensioner, and not one of ABSA’s payment relief plans are actually beneficial to say the least. How does this help anyone? So the customer will be in arears after the “payment relief plan” or possibly even black listed by the sounds of it? I need answers because paying a bond of R6,000 a month is absolutely ridiculous, that’s excluding rates and taxes, water and lights and levies !! I am just really appalled by the service by ABSA mainly for not coming back to me when I am in desperate need of assistance. Having to look at your elderly mom and not see her eat is one of the hardest things I ever had to go through. Being up to date on my home loan account and not missing a payment YET because I chose to pay this account when I can’t even stay in the house and seeing my family not eating, you people should be ashamed of yourselves offering me those two lousy options for a paying customer.

Why do we always have to revert to this platform for our voices to be heard? I honestly pray and hope to God that someone will be able to assist me while I haven’t missed a payment yet!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ms. T Davis