Warning Others – Reckless Lending, Empty Promises, and 14 Years of Punishment

I am writing this review to warn fellow consumers, not to seek resolution from African Bank. My case shows how reckless lending, empty promises, and cruel excuses can destroy lives. Between 2009–2011, while earning only R4,400 per month, African Bank granted me four loans at interest rates as high as 34% per annum. This exceeded the NCA’s 28.5% cap for unsecured credit at the time and left me over indebted almost immediately. It took me 14 years to pay off every cent of this debt. Fourteen years of sacrifice, humiliation, and lost opportunities. During that time, I was denied jobs because employers ran credit checks before hiring. I was turned away from positions I was qualified for, not because of my skills, but because African Bank’s reckless lending and refusal to clear my record branded me as “*************.” Even today, the bank continues to punish me. I initially asked for a goodwill adjustment, which they spontaneously denied without consideration. I escalated the matter from the complaints department to the escalations department, where they promised to investigate within 30 days. Instead, they locked my profile behind FICA excuses. Like a fool, I went along, only to discover later that they couldn’t even access my profile. They lacked the courage to tell me directly, leaving me in limbo. Only after I began sending direct messages did the wheels finally start to turn. Every communication produces templated, vague replies like an automated “jack russel barking” to give the impression of care but offering no substance. Even escalation to the CEO (Mr. Bugane) and Compliance Executive (L. Choma) yielded nothing but empty promises. Mr. Bugane once spoke of “painting a house that burnt down,” yet consumers like me are left standing in the ashes. The Myburgh Report (2016) confirmed African Bank’s directors acted recklessly, bypassed affordability checks, and pursued unsustainable lending. The NCR fined African Bank R20 million (initially R300 million) for reckless lending at its Dundee branch. These findings prove that if African Bank is found guilty of reckless lending, it is not unprecedented it is part of a documented pattern. African Bank’s conduct is reckless, procedurally unfair, and potentially ********. I am seeking redress and fairness, not debt relief. Fellow consumers should be warned: the promises sound good in theory, but they collapse under scrutiny, leaving ordinary people with ruined careers, lost dignity, and 14 years of hardship that continues to this day.