Goodbye FNB

Firstly I must say that I never ever thought that I would be so disappointed by FNB that I would be expressing it on this platform. I have been with them since I was 8 years old (26 years) and have always been loyal to them and have never once had another bank account, and in fact, used to recommended and promote them whenever possible....but no more!!

So here is my story...….

After the past few months I have found myself over committed and am battling to meet my monthly financial commitments. I have quite allot of debt, almost all with FNB, in the form of 2 credit cards, a personal loan and a revolving loan. I do however have a fully paid off 54 hectare farm, valued at R3.6m.

In an attempt to avoid debt counseling and reduce my monthly payments, I approached the FNB credit department and asked them if there was anyway that my loans could be restructured to reduce the monthly repayments and help me keep my head above water. Their answer was NO. Even though that's exactly what would happen if I had to follow the debt review process!!

I then decided to approach the home loans to see if I could consolidate all my debt into a home loan account. I didn't want to apply for any more credit, but just consolidate my current debt into a home loan account with my R3.6m farm as surety. The answer was NO. I was however advised to approach the private clients department.

After meeting with a private clients banker, I was told that I would need to move my platinum accounts over to private clients and then they would be able to look into assisting me, which I did. After all accounts where moved over to Private Clients, I was then advised by them that they would not be able to assist me as it does not fall within their scope. I then also noticed that my interest rate had been changed from 11.25% on my Platinum credit Card, to a crazy 20.75% on the private clients credit card. I was under the impression that the move over from Platinum to Private clients was a straight shift of accounts in order to assist me, and not a money making opportunity for FNB.

I approached FNB to help me reduce my monthly installments, and instead they have made it worse by R1000 a month more on interest!!

I have now tried every avenue to get help from them and I'm still worse off than before this process. I don't understand how my bank is not willing to consolidate my debt for me into a home loan account, especially when my fully paid off property is valued at seven times more than my current debt!! And on top of that, trick me into interest rate that is now costing me R1000 more a month.

I have finally just realized that I am with a bank that asks its customer "How can we help you"...….well you can.....but you don't!!

After 26 years with FNB, I will unfortunately now be approaching other banks to find one that is actually prepared to help me when I need it, and will be moving all my accounts over to that bank when I find it.