You guys have made me feel so sad an unvalued

I'm afraid I have to share something which made me feel truly sad and unvalued my by my bank: A bank to which I've plead my allegiance for about a decade already. One which I trust, one which I'm loyal to, one which I've come to see as having my best interests at heart.

I approached FNB about a week ago to request a review of my Home Loan interest rate, as I truly believe the bank can do better based on my reasonings provided to them. (Since its inception, I have been paying diligently, I've been adding extra funds into my access bond, I have no other debt, I have never missed a payment, I have impeccable credit score which has improved even further since I took out the loan, etc etc.)

I was contacted by FNB two days later to say that unfortunately, due to the current pricing strategy and market conditions, they are UNABLE to adjust the interest rate, and then proceeded to tell me in the same email that I agreed to the loan interest rate at the outset, full the full duration of the loan (Which I understand, but the tone of the message just didn't sound very caring).

This message left me feeling saddened, so I responded to say I was disappointed as I was a loyal customer with excellent credentials, and it was time to perhaps look at switching banks. In the response I got, a sentence read, and I quote "Should a better rate be obtained from another financial institution for the same lending as ours, you may provide us with the quotation in order that we can escalate for further consideration."

So that's what I did. I quickly filled in a homeloan switch Application on ABSA's website, and without even checking my credit histories or delving deeper, ABSA was immediately able to offer me a quote of a homeloan with a whole 1% lower interest rate. I didn't even speak to a consultant. ABSA even goes so far as to give you the option to say "I'm not happy with the interest rate", and now they are seeing if they can do even better on that rate.

I proceeded to send the quote to FNB, and within 3 hours they responded to say they have matched the interest rate with immediate effect.

The word "UNABLE" in the original email clearly should have read "UNWILLING". I thought my bank had my back. Probably my own fault for feeling this way. I took this very personally, and you guys have broken my heart.

I have heard of many people that have successfully renegotiated their interest rates, but when I try, they just slam the door in my face.

FNB, at least I know that I cannot expect loyalty from you: at least now I know where I stand.