Shocking treatment by FNB/RMB

FNB/RMB has to be the worst bank in South Africa... and I used to think they were the best!

On 14 May 2019, my wife and I received a notice of termination of our banking relationship with FNB/RMB, and despite numerous requests for the reason for this decision, the only thing we were told was that FNB/RMB is under no legal obligation to give a reason, and therefore won’t.

This termination of relationship extended to ALL of the accounts and products that we had been using for the past 13 years, including our home loan and our Discovery credit card. Our private banker, with whom we had enjoyed an excellent relationship during that time, ceased all communication with us. He would not take our calls, and he would not answer our emails. Again, there was no reason given for this sudden and shocking “ghosting” by someone who was supposed to be our relationship manager. His treatment of us since that date has been utterly despicable. But I digress… The notice stipulated the termination date as 16 July 2019, and we reluctantly started the process of moving all of our banking to Investec. On 26 June 2019, our accounts were frozen… three weeks BEFORE the termination date of 16 July. Again, no reason or explanation for this was given. On 1 July, the debit order for our Discovery Card was rejected, since the account had already been frozen, and despite the fact that it was still in credit. As a direct result of FNB/RMB “jumping the gun” and freezing the account ahead of schedule, Discovery charged interest and penalties to the extent of R971.49. Since that time, I have sent FNB/RMB in excess of 30 emails, requesting them to do the following: 1. refund the interest and penalties that were charged by Discovery when FNB froze the accounts ahead of the stipulated date 2. cancel the bond on our home 3. reverse the monthly fees that they continue to charge on our home loan, even though we have no access to that account whatsoever 4. close the home loan account

To date, they have not done any of the above, other than reverse some (not all) of the monthly fees. I have lodged several formal complaints, all of which have been directed to the same department that is supposed to be dealing with my case. Replies from them are extremely sporadic, to say the least. I have to send three, four, sometimes five emails before I ever receive any kind of feedback.

The latest response was nine days ago (30 October), in which they stated the following: 1. they will not refund the interest that was charged on the Discovery card, since they don't believe it was charged as a direct result of them freezing the accounts ahead of schedule 2. they claim that it was MY decision to cancel the bond on my home loan, and that I need to appoint a conveyancer to do so, at my own cost

I have sent them another three emails in response, none of which have been answered or acknowledged. Specifically, I have proven to them that the interest charge was as a direct of them jumping the gun, and I have asked them to explain their logic that it was MY decision to cancel the home loan, when it was THEIR decision to terminate the relationship?!?

This entire saga has been going on for six months now, and still there doesn't appear to be any end in sight. I have tried every avenue I can think of with them, but it seems that no-one there does anything. I've been left with no choice but to bad-mouth them publicly and hope that someone finally does their job!