Negligence & ********* Treatment

There are 3 complaints I have against FNB 1. Their due processes in Home loans and Negligence 2. Their non-compliance in Personal Loans 3. Treating customers fairly

1. Due Processes & Negligence

I - Romy Nomis and co-applicant Kevin Mckerr app**** for a home loan in Nov 2016. We were granted the loan in Jan 2017 for R 2 150 000 with a future use amount after 6 months of R 250 000.

I began renovating my home in August 2017 with money I had saved. The renovation went over budget and I app**** for a portion of my future use amount of R 85 000 to complete the renovation. The bank declined the application for 2 reasons 1 Woolworths has a judgement against me which was immediately revoked as it was their mistake and 2 is that Kevin McKerr had a judgment/debt against him which dated back to 2009 – 8 years prior to my approved loan. I asked the bank why this had not been brought to our attention when they granted our initial loan and still to this date they have not answered my questions (attached). The bank was negligent, and this resulted in me taking out a personal loan, delays in my renovations and additional costs. I had been with FNB for 13 years, have been an exemplary client and always paid on time. I asked them to please help as the costs of my renovation had to be paid and this was delaying the process which ended up costing me more money.

They were not willing as Kevin was now a risk 2 Category, after the initial loan was granted – pure negligence. The only way for me to complete my renovation was to apply for a personal loan (Sept) in my own capacity for the same value. This was also initially declined due to a Woolworths judgement which was immediately rescinded as they had made an error (see attached). The personal loan was then granted a week or so later after I had borrowed money from a family member to fulfill my payment obligations to the contractors.

After further emails and phone calls to the people listed below they also approved my home loan. This process created some extreme anxiety as well as cost me time and money due to FNB’s very inconsistent procedures and negligence.

I now had 2 loans that I was paying back as they had not done the due diligence to begin with and they created an expectation for me in terms of my future use amount. I understand that credit checks need to be performed but what I could not understand is how they could grant Kevin and I the initial loan if there was an outstanding debt. This is not the fault of me the consumer or Kevin, but rather the banks negligent ways and FNB will not admit Liability. After 5 years the debt becomes prescribed. After much turmoil and having to find a place for myself and my kids to stay as the renovation was delayed and cost more due to delays, I was extremely disappointed in FNB and how they handled the situation. They believed as you will see from the correspondence that I should not have expected the future use amount, I believe I should have as I did not know that an 8-year-old prescribed debt would result in declination of my future use amount due to the banks negligence and bad due processes. I was paying all my instalments without fail every month and was not aware of this undisclosed debt that they had overlooked initially.

2. Non-compliance – Personal Loan

Nosipho Makhaya my personal banker at that stage was always very helpful and empathetic to my situation and I really appreciated that from her and still do. When my personal loan was approved telephonically for R 85 000 I assumed that they would send me an agreement to this affect that would be proof of the loan. I never received an agreement from FNB, only later this year in August did I receive the agreement from the Banking Ombudsman (Tamaren).

I did receive R 85 000 personal loan which I used to pay back the borrowed amount of 30k from a family member. I had agreed telephonically to the loan as well as to a R 3009 per month installment so that I could pay the loan back as quickly as possible. I never received ANY documentation.

As mentioned, my home loan was eventually approved due to affordability and my constant chasing, but I still had no answers to FNB’s undue processes.

When I eventually received the home loan pay out of R 85 000 I paid 70K back to my personal loan immediately so that I could pay that off as quickly as possible. I had 15k left to pay, which I needed to use due to ALL the construction delays. I also thought this would be paid off quickly as I had agreed to R 3009 per month.

When I checked my account in March I assumed I should have already paid off the personal loan, but FNB had decided to lessen my installment to R 779 per month without my permission and without any correspondence or disclosure in this regard. I queried this and FNB said it was an automated process. This happened on 2 occasion without any consent on my part.

This is unfair and ********* treatment and I would like FNB to remunerate me for damages, time and additional money that I have spent due to their undue processes.

I expect to be reimbursed an amount to be discussed if FNB replies to this review.

This debacle has taken over a year to resolve, in this year I have gone back and forth to regulators and to the bank and no one takes ANY responsibility or accountability. I will NOT give up until this is resolved as I believe the system has failed me as a consumer. I am sure there are many others you treat like this and who don’t have the strength or the time to have to deal with this incompetence but I will not give up even if I take this to court.