Banking ANYWHERE else will be better than using FNB's Premier Banking

If you’re thinking of switching to FNB or if they’re pressuring you to move to Premier Banking I can categorically tell you it’s a huge mistake to switch. In April I made the mistake of becoming a Premier Banker, with a “team of bankers there to help me, 24/7”. What a joke.

The trouble started with the most basic thing a bank should be able to get right. Delivering a new credit card. After waiting at least 3 weeks, and contacting FNB multiple times on multiple platforms, it seemed as if my card had disappeared. The teller at the Benmore branch was especially confused, because it was showing up on his system as an active account. Eventually, after a third visit to the branch, he checked the back of the branch. And there it was unopened. But active?

I then decided to pay a large sum into my credit card, essentially paying it off. Because both my Gold and Premier Credit Cards were open at the same time, the funds went into an unused Premier Card instead of paying back my Gold. So now it looked like I had two separate balances to settle, which I tried to do manually.

Confused, I asked for help on the app and got barely more than an automated response saying I had to wait 90 days for everything to go back to normal. After 90 days my statements were a mess. Completely confusing and my interest had inexplicably doubled.

I sent 4 messages via online banking (all ignored), 2 emails (1 ignored, 1 response saying I had to use the online banking portal in order to get help. Amazing.) I called 3 times. 1 Premier Banker being so confused by my account that she said she’d ask her supervisor and call me back. She didn’t. I called again. The “manager” Premier Banker being so confused she had to contact a credit specialist to look at my balances.

And the verdict? Rebecca Mbuli from Premier Banking telling me “I wasn’t supposed to” try settle my credit cards by myself and that FNB had seen me trying to move money from my Premier credit card to my Gold credit card as a transaction and charged me for it multiple times and doubled my interest, even though technically I wasn’t really moving money at all. Seeing as I should have only had 1 credit card active in the first place! Great. So the first time I get real feedback from FNB is to get berated for something no one explained and the Premier Bankers themselves didn’t even understand without help from a specialist.

The beautiful cherry on top was Rebecca Mbuli saying FNB helping me at all was “an act of good will” and that they wouldn’t be able to rectify the interest that had doubled because of these transactions.

FNB's whole marketing ploy is a "dedicated" team of Premier Bankers there to help you with anything. Their fees are higher. Their services aren't as great as their competitors. This "helpfulness" is pretty much all they have. And the first time I really needed help from them, I was told them doing the bare minimum after months of being ignored was an "act of good will". Steer clear, everyone. ANY other bank could do a better job.