Excess Item Fees Totalling Nearly R2,000 & Failure to Cancel FNB Law Plan

I am submitting this as a formal complaint regarding repeated and unjustified charges on my Business Cheque account, which have now escalated into a serious financial issue.

Over the last three days, I have been charged close to R2,000 in excess item fees alone. These charges are not only excessive but fundamentally unfair, and I dispute them in full.

The core issue is this: A card transaction was made while my account reflected sufficient funds and an available balance that fully covered the purchase. Immediately after the transaction, my available balance dropped accordingly, which clearly indicates that the funds were reserved to honour that transaction. At no point did I attempt to spend money that was not available.

The account only went into a negative position after bank charges were app****, due to delays in the final processing of the card transaction. Despite this, the transaction was later processed as if it were an unauthorised or excess item, resulting in multiple excess item fees being charged against me.

I find it unacceptable that a customer can be penalised so severely for:

A transaction that was valid and funded at the time of purchase, and

Bank processing delays that are entirely outside the customer’s control.

To make matters worse, I am still being charged for the FNB Law Plan, despite having requested its cancellation previously. This request has clearly not been actioned, and the continued billing has directly contributed to the negative balance and the cascade of penalty fees.

The combined effect of:

Uncancelled services,

Delayed transaction processing, and

Aggressive excess item penalties

has resulted in almost R2,000 being deducted from my account in a matter of days, without any corresponding misuse on my part.

I am requesting the following with urgency:

A full review and reversal of all excess item fees related to these transactions

Immediate cancellation of the FNB Law Plan, with a refund of all charges deducted after my cancellation request

A clear written explanation of how customers are expected to manage their accounts when reserved funds do not protect them from subsequent charges

If this matter is not resolved promptly, I will have no choice but to escalate it further, as the current handling of this account reflects poorly on customer fairness and transparency.

I expect confirmation of action taken.