Blatant theft leaving me financially unstable - This from a bank!

Before signing my homeloan registration papers, both my mother and I called the home loans call centre to get advice about changing the date of my debit order to the 25th of the month. We were both advised that I would need to wait until the bond was registered before intiating the change.

After an incredibly stressful and exhausting move into my new home, I am back at the office, fighting yet more fires after having neglected my work to focus my attention on the move. I receive a notification I am not prepared for, stating that the first home loan payment has been deducted from my account. I call Nedbank immediately to reverse the payment and set the debit order date to the 30th of Oct or thereabout. Without communicating with me, Nedbank reverses the payment but does not change the debit order date. The result? My account is now in arrears and they have frozen +R10,000 of my funds.

They now refuse to change the date of my debit order, refuse to release the funds and are insisting I pay them another +R10,000. Where is the logic? How do they expect me to effectively pay them +R30,000 in just one month (pay-cheque to pay-cheque)? Their solution? I can pay them R5,000 a month over 2 months. That's still R25,000 in 1 month! I cannot afford to do that and I refuse to be bul**** into compliance on their terms.

I have been R10,000 out of pocket for nearly a month now. It seems they don't care that I have bills to pay and that my life is on hold until such time as the money that is rightfully mine is released to me. They are dragging their feet in resolving this matter while I remain on edge, knowing my finances and my credit record are in a mess.

I am now in my thirties. I closed my accounts with Nedbank in my twenties after having been a client fo years. Nedbank could not offer me assistance when buying a vehicle then, despite my loyalty and the fact that I was an educated, working professional with a good credit record. Their rewards programme is *******, their offerings sub-standard and their systems just as poor. The only reason I now have an account with them is because I was obligated to open an account with them in order for them to offer me a reasonable interest rate on my home loan. A strong-arm tactic. It's only been two months and I'm regretting having switched to Nedbank again. They employ bullying tactics to gain and retain customers instead of catering to customers needs. I have never HATED an organisation more and I would advise anyone to steer clear of them.