Lack of Transparency from FNB- Covid-19 Cashflow Relief

Good Day

I app**** for Covid-19 cashflow relief which was offered to me in the form of a loan to cover my Wesbank and FNB related debit orders. I accepted the quotation, only for my Wesbank debit order to be taken from my cheque account instead of the relief account. After going from pillar to post and eventually posted a review on Hello Peter as a last resort it was sorted out.

After checking the cashflow relief account on my FNB app, I noticed that the principle debt exceeds the total of my Wesbank and FNB related debit orders. I enquired about this via email to ***. Please see correspondence below.

“Dear Bradwyn

Please clarify the following:

It says on my FNB app that the payment date of my cashflow relief loan is 07 May 2020. It was stated to me that the repayments for this loan would only commence in July. Please advise? The cashflow relief loan is in the amount of R19 037.57. This amount is more than my Wesbank and FNB debt obligations for April, May and June as I will detail below: April- Wesbank: R4527.78 April- FNB loan: R1529.82 May- Wesbank: R4527.78 May- FNB Loan: R1529.82 June Wesbank: R4527.78 Total Repayments: R16 642. 98 Loan Amount: R19 037.57 Difference: R 2 394.59 My last instalment of the FNB smartspend loan is in May 2020. Furthermore, all of the above obligations do not amount to the full loan amount of the cashflow relief facility. What is going to happen to the R2394.59? It is my understanding that no initiation and admin fees were added and the loan was given on the prime lending rate. Please clarify? Please also forward a copy of the loan agreement to me as a copy was not available on the app to download. Please note that I expect a prompt response”

I received the following response from Nicole Ritchie: “Thank you for your email. Please note that when you take up the cashflow relief plan, we will cover all your existing repayments with us, on your behalf, over the next 3 months. Below are the accounts the Covid-19 cash relief plan will cover for the next 3 months and repayment will start in July. Please refer to your contract, you can access the contract on the FNB App. • Personal Loan • Wesbank Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us again. Kind Regards, Nicole Ritchie” I did not require Nicole to explain to me how the cashflow relief plan works, I asked why am I given a loan in an amount that is more than what I am required to pay FNB over the next three months, as this total needs to be repaid. Please see my response below:

“Please answer my question. I know what is going to be covered in the next three months, however the total of the loan exceeds the total of my repayments. Why not be transparent? Where does the difference come from? This was Nicole’s response:

“Thank you for your email. Kindly be advised that a COVID-19 cash relief will help you stay up to date on your current repayments, keeping your credit profile intact. The loan amount that was offered includes the total installments plus a few extra funds. However, should you not use the full amount granted, you will only pay back the funds used for the period of 3 months and the balance will be paid back to the cash relief plan. Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact our Collections department on ***/1. Kind Regards, Nicole Ritchie”

Why did she not state this to me previously when I emailed. I had to drag this out of her. I was at this point still not satisfied as I would like to know what “a few extra funds” are, and how this total of “extra funds was calculated? I stated this in my response to Nicole. She responded as follows:

“Thank you for your email. Kindly be advised that the Covid-19 cash relief amount that was offered is determined by your credit profile. Which then calculates the total installments you currently paying with FNB. Therefore,we will cover all your existing repayments with us, on your behalf, over the next 3 months. Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact our Collections department on ***/1. Kind Regards, Nicole Ritchie”

She again does not answer my question. She does not even refer to me a department or someone who is able to answer my question. I found this person to be very condescending and unhelpful. She keeps on explaining to me what the cashflow relief plan is, which I already understand. What I want to know is why has FNB offered me a loan of R19 037, 57, when my debit orders to FNB over the next three months will only total R16 642.98. Where does the extra R2394.59 come from? How was it calculated? I am not able to access this money as it is not a transactional account, yet it is part of a loan agreement that I am liable to pay, if the R2394.59 was not used, will the loan agreement be adjusted? That should then affect what my monthly payment should be as well. How will this be handled? Or will FNB at the end of June say that I accepted the agreement in that amount and that is what must be repaid even though I did not use all of the funds? Is FNB doing this purposefully?

I would like all of the above answered, and I would like to state that I am totally disgusted at the way FNB has conducted itself lately. I am not the kind of customer who just accepts a generic response when I have a query. I want to be heard and responded to as a valued customer, not like I’m an idiot.

For the second time I requested for a copy of the agreement (I asked for a copy of the agreement in my first email, but the request was not acknowledged, apart from me being told to access the agreement on my app (I have not found the agreement on the app, if it is there it is very well concealed), and after my many requests, I have finally received a copy of my agreement (It should be standard practice to send client’s their agreements, even if it is a pre-agreement for the sake of transparency).

Regards