Stay away from African Bank.

Around 2*** I was retrenched from the company I worked for. I then went to submit my documents at an african bank branch to show that I was retrenched and claim on my insurance.

A year later I was still unemployed but the debt hadn't been canceled. When I started getting calls about it I tried to explain but was told my case didn't exist and I had to pay off the debt, some R1500 odd cents.

When I was stepped into my new job in 2016 I could not make an arrangement so I paid when I could. I finally made an arrangement in 2019 to pay 100 a month via debit order. My balance then was about R1100.

This went on till the covid lockdown when I was now without an income. The remaining balance was now less than R800. For three months I have been without a salary. Now the debit order rejects and deducts R147 as a non payment fee.

I tried to cancel this debit order with African Bank and was told it could not be done. I tried to reason that there is no money in the account and will consequently be charged R147 for the non payment, but that fell on deaf ears. I also explained to them, because they call every 5 days or so, that I haven't been getting a salary for the past 3 months, but that had no effect. My last effort was to try and make a commitment to clear the debt in one payment once things were back to normal, failed yet again.

African Bank doesn't care what trouble you are in, they just want money. I am going to cancel the debit order with my bank, but I am still shocked at African bank's lack of empathy.

If you can avoid it, stay away from African bank.