1 reviews | Active since Mar 2009
FNB refusing to assist customer of almost 30 years
As a customer since 1992, FNB's treatment me of late has left me bitterly disappointed. Late last year I was offered a personal loan via the FNB App, which I took in order to consolidate my debt into one account. At that point my business was doing well enough to handle the repayments. Then as we all know, Covid hit us and we lost income - completely - for close on 4 months. We had no choice other than to apply for the Covid relief from FNB in order to survive. However, unlike other banks that gave their customers an actual break in loan repayments, FNB's 'relief' was in the form of a loan. Which meant that at the end of the Covid relief term, I now had two loans to repay instead of one. From end of June I started trying to find someone at FNB to talk to about lengthening the repayment terms of my personal loan, because business hadn't picked up sufficiently to cover the repayments on both loans. A number of articles about the issues of people in debt because of Covid had all indicated that people should speak to their bank to get assistance...well, clearly FNB wasn't one of those banks being written about. I was able to cover the Covid loan and three-quarters of the personal loan, and tried on numerous occasions to explain that this was only a temporary measure, that I anticipated the business to improve by middle of 2021, at which point I'd be able to repay the full amount. But without fail, whether from a call agent, via an emailed response, or from FNB's so-called Premiere Bankers, the reply was a straight no, I must repay the full amount or they would blacklist me. One call agent eventually gave me an email address to 'plea' my case to, but both my original email plus a follow-up query went unacknowledged. I fail to understand FNB's stubbornness in this - it's not as if I'm saying I cannot repay anything - I am saying I am willing to make the effort, and am covering more than three-quarters the repayment loan amount, and yet they are quite simply not interested (and changing the repayment terms for a longer period won't lose then any money - if anything they'll earn more interest off me!). For the past two months I've had to borrow money from family to get through, but as of December there is quite simply no more money available other than what I will be directly depositing into that account. There is nothing more I can do now.
But what FNB chooses to do is go the difficult route: I must default on the monthly repayment terms first, then wait for Collections to go, "Hey! This guy isn't paying what he should be paying! Let's start phoning and hounding him to pay the full amount!"
Then I have to try and explain to Collections the situation, after which they may put me through to another department that may allow me to pay the lesser amount for a few months...but then my account goes into arrears, and when that period of grace expires, I now have to sort out the arrears as well.
Beyond pathetic. No idea how FNB ever became a popular bank in this country with such a backward mindset. Will be moving my business accounts to a different bank in the new year, because clearly this bank has lost the plot.
But what FNB chooses to do is go the difficult route: I must default on the monthly repayment terms first, then wait for Collections to go, "Hey! This guy isn't paying what he should be paying! Let's start phoning and hounding him to pay the full amount!"
Then I have to try and explain to Collections the situation, after which they may put me through to another department that may allow me to pay the lesser amount for a few months...but then my account goes into arrears, and when that period of grace expires, I now have to sort out the arrears as well.
Beyond pathetic. No idea how FNB ever became a popular bank in this country with such a backward mindset. Will be moving my business accounts to a different bank in the new year, because clearly this bank has lost the plot.