FNB Exploiting International Pandemic For Profit.

In April 2020 I app**** for the COVID 19 relief loan that FNB offered and I was approved. I did not accept it at the time. But in May 2020 I was informed by my company that I would be facing salary cuts for an indefinite period, at which time I accepted the quote on the 26 May 2020. Prior to accepting the quote, I called FNB to find out why they had granted me so much as I didn’t require the entire amount. They granted me approx. R49800 and by my calculation I only needed approx. R34000 for all 3 installments for 3 months. (less if you consider that I assumed I was only going to have the benefit for 2 of the 3 months). When asked them to explain the R49500, they said that it was based on the maximum usage on my credit and they had to plan for the worst-case scenario, but once the 3 months had been completed the loan would be reviewed based on how much of the R49500 I had used. That gave me peace of mind and I did not question it further.

The original offer that was made to me was to cover my bond, vehicle finance, and credit card payments for 3 months only. (May, June, July). As I accepted the quote late I assumed that I would miss out on the first month of the offer. A few days later (after the 26th May 2020) money matching the debits of my bond, vehicle finance, and credit card debts was transferred into my account by FNB without any communication. As there was no communication I assumed that the money was put into my account to accommodate me for the upcoming debits on the 1st of June 2020. The process of how the loan would work was not made clear to me.

The 1st of June 2020 came and went and the money was still in my account. I called FNB and tried to find out what was going on. They explained to me that as the offer was for 3 months, they had refunded me the installments I had already paid on the 1st May 2020. I asked why was this not communicated to me and I did not get an answer. The installments owing for June 2020 went off the loan directly but did not show on any transactions nor did I receive a transactional statement showing the loan amount and interest being charged. I did not pursue it further at the time.

The 1st of July came and went and another round of installments went off the loan directly with no transactions shown and not updated on the loan. As this was the end of the loan offer I stated calling on and off from the beginning of July 2020 asking for the loan to be reviewed based on what was paid out to my bond, vehicle finance, and credit from the bond. Based on my calculations I had only spent R34000 of the original offer that was made and I wanted it to be revised as the amount showing on the FNB app showed 49500. The month of July passed with me making endless calls. Being shifted from pillar to post, from department to department, no one knowing what to do. I finally received some help from a Call Centre agent name Lima who assisted me by escalating my matter to the team dealing with this loan. They proceeded to delay the matter for a further week before the matter was escalated directly to Lima’s manager Mr. Ivan Mtshali. Ivan assisted me quite a bit by explaining what was the reason for all the delays. He also escalated the matter to the team handling the case many times.

On the first of the 1st of August 2020, I was surprised to find out that the 4th round of installments was taken off the loan without my consent. As a result, this has put me even more in debt and FNB has been charging interest on a larger amount owing when the offer clearly stated that the offer would end in July 2020.

Furthermore, a complaint was registered with FNB on 12 August 2020. And until the day of writing this review, I have not heard a single word from anyone in FNB.

This product was meant to assist customers during financially difficult periods but it has put me more in debt than needed.

The matter is still not resolved and I am struggling to get any feedback from FNB in any form. My emails go unanswered and phone calls get cut or sent to other departments.

I will be taking this to the ombudsman as FNB shows no intent on helping their customers, instead, taking advantage of an international pandemic to maximize profits.