********* and Immoral decision by Standard Bank.

Our company recently made a payment into a Standard Bank Business account to which the money wasn’t due. On realising our mistake, we contacted the owner of the business, who promptly asked his bankers to refund the money – confirming to Std Bank that the money wasn’t due to their company. This was +- a week after the initial payment was made by EFT. After some weeks of e-mails to / from their customer, Std Bank themselves and their complaints line, we have been advised by Std Bank that they will not be refunding the money back to us. Apparently, their client is paying off an overdraft on the account that was credited with the money, and they have decided to use this money in reduction of the debt, despite the fact that the money was mistakenly and innocently paid over and, for which we have provided proof.

This decision is extremely *********, and undermines any trust one would associate with banks, considering their servicing responsibilities to the public. The fact that they have now opportunistically held an innocent company’s funds for their benefit, exacerbates this fact exponentially!