Sly business principles

We took out a homeloan with FNB in Sept 2017 - but before doing so, whilst still considering with which bank to take the loan out from, I specifically asked FNB what their policy in regards with rate reviews was in the case of when you pay the loan off faster than expected (as Standard Bank for example doesn't consider rate reviews at all, no matter how well/fast you're paying your loan off - but at least they're honest and upfront about it!), to which FNB responded by saying that they do look at rate reviews after 12 months - this being one of the reasons why we decided to end up taking out the loan with FNB as we expected to pay off the loan relatively quickly and thus thought we'd rather go with the chance of getting our rate lowered accordingly.

12 Months went by - a period during which we paid off around 11% off the loan over and above all of the normal monthly installments which were also always paid on time, so we thought in this case a lowered rate would obviously be a formality. When I called FNB regarding applying for the rate review I was then however informed that they now only consider reviews after 24 months (noting that in the past it used to be 6 months which then got increased to 12 by the time I asked these questions before taking out the loan) - I then explained to them that (obviously) even if the "rule" has changed - that they then still need to stick to it back dated to the loans that were already taken out before such a change in rules are app**** - as clients like myself make decisions that impacts our pockets considerably in the longer run based on these types of principles - and thus asked that the matter must please be escalated for a rate review - which was (apparently) done - however the outcome was that they didn't lower our rate at all - go figure!

What really frustrates me about this is that before approving a loan they've got such a long list of things by which they penalize you on the interest rate - like for example they would phone you and tell you that "seeing that you've been paying off your credit card account so well you've been approved for a bigger overdraft" the one week but then penalize you on your interest rate the next week due to the access to the bigger overdraft?! They tell you that for this and that reason you are "so risky to them" - but if you can prove to them that by paying the loan off faster than expected in the future that you're not such a high risk profile client "then they'll consider a rate review" - but then even in the case that you end up paying more than 11% off your loan within 1/20 years off the loan - they claim that "based on the current pricing strategy and current market conditions we are unable to improve on the rate"... whatever... I.e. beware of FNB Homeloans' sly way of doing business!