FNB not POPIA compliant and refuses client access to information about her account and to the funds in her account

I have been a customer of FNB for many years and they are generally fairly good with their services. The experience of their banking "hall" cannot compare to the Newcomer Bank which I will not name here now as this is not the purpose of this review.

I walk with a group of people here in Bellville who do not have the luxury of staying in their own place at the moment. They sleep at the shelter (Safe Space) in Bellville. For the past four months I have been walking with different people in the shelter. We walk and talk for around 20 minutes every weekday morning. My purpose is to listen to them and just maybe to kindle a fire of hope for them.

One of the ladies (there are a few amongst this group) approached me recently to say that she has an account with FNB, but that would not issue her with a new card nor do they allow her access to her funds. She does not have a mobile phone at the moment. She told me that the bank has told her this story for a number of years now. In the meantime the balance of the money in the account has gone down. She has no access to information on the account as the bank refuses to give her any information as they claim there is a case of ***** on this account.

I ran a credit/***** check on her on the one system that I have access to. There is no report like this on that system. I said to her that we should visit a branch.

We did visit a branch at Willowbridge Bellville on 2 August and did not get any joy. The bank told gave a balance which is thousands of rands less than the balance that should be in the account. My guess is that there was ***** and that money was taken from the account, but that it was not the account holder. It would be difficult to understand why the account holder would have de*****ed her own account. In my opinion the bank does not want to reveal details of the account as they then would have to refund the lady. The banker at the branch was very helpful when I expressed my total disgust with the situation. He phoned the ***** department and asked them to contact me to assist as the account holder does not have a phone.

He indicated that they are the only people (the ***** department) that could lift the block on the account. In the mean time the account beacme dormant for a lack of activity (caused by the bank). Now the bank expects the customer to do a Fica (proof of address), but she lives in a shelter. The bank supervisor refused to visit the address to verify the address (as required by legislation) on account of Covid fears.

Needless to say, the ***** department of the bank did not phone. We were told to come back to the branch should the ***** department not phone. This does not make sense - the branch cannot solve the problem they claim, but they want us to get back to the branch - to be told once again that the ***** department will phone and that that the ***** department alone could fix this issue.

Let us assume that there was or is a case of ***** - four or five years is surely enough time to investigate a claim like this. In the mean time FNB is doing a great injustice against one of the most vulnerable categories of people in the country while there are adequate funds in the account for the customer to change her situation somewhat.

A further inexcusable fact is the customer is a pensioner as well. It is not only ************** against a vulnerable group, but also against a pensioner.

FNB furthermore did not comply with the POPIA regulations neither did they outline to her what steps she could take to get information from the bank. The bank holds her account with her information in there and prevents her access to the account or to manage the account.

FNB will probably be the first case for the Regulator to make sure that they do not do this to other customers as well.

Of course we want to bank to restore this account and all losses in the account as a result of their action or lack thereof.