Bonus interest offered for 55 years and older is nonsense

Be careful when opening a fixed deposit at Absa thinking that they offer better rates than other banks based on bonus interest promises. When viewing the rates for fixed deposits on Absa’s website they clearly indicate that persons 55 years and older qualify for an additional 0.5% interest per annum on those rates.

I believed the bonus interest claim and after depositing the money there was no bonus interest rate reflecting. The emails which I sent regarding this were never answered. I sent a series of emails for more than a month with this query because I wanted the communication with them in writing. Finally I decided to call and when I eventually got through to a call centre agent after 20 minutes he didn’t know what I was talking about. He put me through to someone who he called a rates lady. When I spoke to her she asked that I put her back to the call centre agent …. duh !!!!!!!!

Anyway after she realized that I can’t transfer her back to the call centre agent she told me that there was no extra bonus interest offered for 55 years and older.

So now my money is locked in a fixed deposit for 12 months based on a lie. Now I understand why they never answered all the email queries I sent to the email addresses indicated on Absa’s website.

The banking ombudsman is my next option.