Something is rotten in FNB because they do not want long standing clients anymore.

Something rotten is going on in FNB. The massive push towards digital makes me think there are cash flow problems and this is manifesting in the steady decline in quality of service to the customers in recent years. I am a long time client, since the BOB account days, and I have seen a severe drop in service from FNB within the last year. A few examples:

1. They upgraded my account to the most expensive option WITHOUT my permission, and refused to grandfather the old pricing option, stating it was "not well received by customers". This was purely because it was not well advertised at the time. So now, if I want to downgrade to a cheaper pricing option, I have to GO INTO THE BRANCH! Why cant I do this over the phone?

2. My husband (who is also an FNB client) and I tried to apply for a home loan with FNB. The opposite to my previous complaint happened. After going into the branch to speak to a human person about the biggest purchase of our lives, we were handed the phone by the teller, and told to APPLY ONLINE!

3. Related: This is not the first property we are buying, and our existing property is already fully paid up (home loan serviced by FNB in 2009). With the new property, there was another potential buyer but they had a 'subject to' clause, whereas we were cash buyers. For some reason, FNB couldn't handle 2 applications to the same address. Couldn't do it. We had to wait for the other buyer to withdraw before FNB would even talk to us. By which the delays almost cost us the sale. When they were finally able to process our application, they only offered us 65% of what we were asking. We were not even asking for the full purchase price as we already had a big deposit. So what FNB offered could not even cover the rest. THREE other banks were willing to give us the full loan. Even our bond originator could not understand why FNB would pull such a stunt. So we are not doing our home loan with FNB. They have lost our business.

4. The sheer amount of spam I receive through email, sms, and the app. And there is no way to opt out. Surely this is not legal in terms of the CPA?

They are desperate for new business, but make no attempt to try and retain existing business. Which makes one wonder what is going on behind the teal curtains.

If I have to go into the branch to downgrade an account, I think I will rather go in to close all of my accounts and migrate to Capitec.

I would not be surprised if FNB goes the way of Africa Bank in the next few years. You have become too big, bloated and complacent, and as a result, you are hemorrhaging long-standing and loyal clients. These kinds of clients could bring in even more business because word-of-mouth is a very powerful and underestimated form of adverti*****t.

But you will no longer be getting that from me.

Good day.