FNB pledges funds with no authority!

I’ve had a SARS Refund a week ago to the value of R355,000 which is normal in my business but what’s not been normal is that my bank (FNB) has frozen or “pledged” this amount as they explain they not sure if it was indeed a payment from SARS. The sms says that they will confirm with SARS and unlock the funds within 48 hours.

My accountant has called SARS and they’ve confirmed that they have not instructed FNB to freeze these funds but yet over a week has gone by and the accounts have still been frozen...

My accountant says that this has happened to three clients in his history and all three have banked with FNB!

I have several accounts with them and I will be sure to close my accounts one by one as soon as this issue is resolved, but at this point it seems they want to use my money to fund other people’s overdrafts and earn interest on it.

I have already contacted a consumer journalist to look into this and hopefully we can get some exposure on this so it doesn’t happen to others!

If you’re a business I wouldn’t recommend a bank who just freezes accounts without authority (FNB). There are banks out there who communicate with clients to resolve matters but FNB isn’t one of them.