Poor service, worse communication & not personal ("there for you") at all

I have been a Standard Bank client for over a decade - my very first bank account. Over the years I've had issues with Standard Bank such as consultants not efficiently updating personal details, then having to go into a branch/call the call center repeatedly to get it sorted; immediately blocking my card when noticing a "suspicious" transaction, without instruction or calling me to verify first... Or calling my old number to verify as they haven't updated my details... The irony...

The above all seemed trivial at the time, however annoying they may have been. All I wanted was a banking service, wasn't too fussed with the details.

It wasn't until 11 Jan 2014 when I opened an RCP, to get out of a tight spot, that I had really made any significant change to my account service & relationship with Standard Bank.

With an interest rate that has earned Standard Bank very near my original loan amount in the last 47 months - I still owe them the same amount of money. Scary.

At the time when I took out the loan, I was only 21 years old and despite the desperate circumstances (or in fact at 21 any circumstances ) - I truly feel like the amount of money I was approved for has had a ripple effect, contributing to even more damaging financial circumstances four years later.

Today - I received some money in my account to pay for a deposit to move into a smaller place. Standard Bank placed a tracker on my account for a payment that was skipped (who knows when - I'm up to my knees in debt and Standard Bank never seemed to want to assist OR really advise me after numerous visits - just glaring and scolding at me over the same negative accounts I so desperately needed help with).

I phoned them and pleaded with them to reverse this (as the smaller place is part of the plan to actually pay them off), I started sobbing and begging past the threshold of any human integrity but alas - there's no sympathy to be found from a credit provider - a credit provider who has made more than sufficient money from putting me below the breadline.

Maybe that's just the way that the world works. I really hope not.

Nevertheless - when the tables turn and I have some money to put toward savings and investments I will definitely seek to do so with an institution that values making a change in the world that already has way too many frazzled, misinformed and over indebted consumers.

Thanks Standard Bank - Moving Nowhere.