My account is still frozen

I hold an account with the Braamfontein Branch.

My problems started with SB telling me to close my stockbroking account. I did and transferred my portfolio to another stock broker and the cash balance in the account circa R8,000 to my SB account.

Upon receipt of the transfer, SB froze my account because they did not know where the money was coming from, even though it was coming from a SB account and I had probably over 100 transactions between the accounts in the 10 years I have held the account. Never mind that it was SB to SB transaction and the transaction was fully referenced.

I picked up the freeze when I tried to make a payment last week.

The bank asked me for a statement from their stock broking division. I sent it. The bank confirmed receipt and said that they would have the freeze lifted. Six business days later, the hold is still there and the person helping me, Fikile, is claiming she has no clue what else she needs to do to have it lifted.

In the intervening period, I contacted the complaints centre for the non-resident account. They said I have a resident account with the Braamfontein Branch and referred me to the branch that I was complaining about instead of the National Complaints Centre which they only did after I insisted. The Complaints Centre pretty much ignored me and never even acknowledged receipt of my complaint.

When I asked the bank for the Ombudsman details they ignored that request even though they received it.

Yesterday, I was told that the freeze had been removed. I tried to make a payment, and lo and behold, it was still there. Today I tried again, it is still there.

SB closed my stock broking account and then flag the proceeds from the account as suspicious when they receive them. And the cash was R8000 for crying out loud. Upon asking why I was not given advance notice of the freeze - that they needed source of the funds, I was told that an email from their AML dept would have been sent to the branch manager who was on leave.

Oh by the way, the Bank only needed a statement from the stock broking division of the bank to remove the freeze. Every penny that has funded my stockbroking account has passed through the account.

The service of SB sucks. I cant make my payments because of them and am running a very big risk of being blacklisted because of their stupid service. And they are making sure I do not escalate to the Ombudsman.