FNB Disaster

I am so dissappointed with FNB.

One of these sales companies (Mzansi) debited money from my account without my authorization. I call FNB to find out what and who these people are and they tell me via email they do not know. Then I ask how is it that a third party can access my account without my knowledge and do as they please. Then someone by the name of Pamela Anthony responds by giving me instructions on how to stop the debit order. I then write back and say I did not ask for instruction, I asked how a third party can access my account without my knowledge, She again tells me that FNB is not liable for what happens in my account. I must have told these people whoever they are they can debit and again I said no. she then givem me the below response:

When it comes to debit orders, the bank is unfortunately not party to the agreement between customers and the service providers. The bank accepts millions of debit orders to customers’ accounts every month in good faith, as it is impossible for the bank to verify them, especially because we are not party to the agreement. This is industry practice and in line with the rules as set out in the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA). We therefore also rely on our customers to scrutinize their statements and to report any suspected unauthorized transactions to the bank.

FNB has a disputes process in place and industry has the agreed PASA rules in place to assist to dispute and reverse to protect our customers. Should a debit order be disputed within 40 days after it was presented for payment, the bank can return the disputed debit order immediately. If the debit order is disputed after the 40 day period, the bank can request the required proof of mandate from the beneficiary bank who then has 30 days to present such proof, failing which we can return the disputed debit order immediately.

As we speak FNB is actively driving changes to the PASA rules in order to be more proactive in finding ways to curb *****. With that said we need to have agreement with all PASA members. Over and above this where we do find ************ operators, the members of PASA report them to PASA and they are blacklisted. FNB is also sending out SMS messages to customers where we suspect that a debit order might be unauthorized (especially amounts under R100) in an attempt to be of more assistance to our customers. The Debit Order Query Team would then also assist our clients with the dispute process as well as the reversal process.

Regards, Pamela Anthony FNB Contact Centre Service Recovery.

What ****es me off is the fact that, they are now making it my problem, I am suppose to pay the fees for the money to be reversed even though I did not authorize for this to happen. I must wait however long for my own money to be reversed back into my account. Is FNB SAYING THAT MY MONEY IS NOT SAFE WITH THEM? SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR ANOTHER BANK TO BANK WITH?