Refinancing Existing Land

My name Bridget Rikhotso a Standard Bank client for over 14 years. I’ve held different accounts with the institutions ranging from vehicle loan, credit card, savings accounts etc. All these accounts have been managed with no defaults or arrears; however it was surprising how they unfairly handled my home loan application. We recently app**** for a home loan together with my husband with the hope they would refinance our stand (for the stand we own). To my surprise, Standard Bank can finance a new vacant land which is not owned by us, but they cannot refinance vacant land that we currently own. The purpose of the application was to start building on the vacant land that we own. All the necessary documentation (plans, title deeds, building contract, NHBRC certificates were submitted) as proof of building. This practice encourages one to give up their property (land) to have access to the funds (financing from the bank). This is unfortunate and works against our investment on land that we already spent R3 000 000 (Stand, Plan, Engineers, municipality and HOA). Can someone explain to us what the Bank has to loss by refinancing a Land to double value of the property (Land)? This rule is designed to disadvantage people who spend years to invest on the land to build their Dream homes, the worse part, the land is on one of the prominent Estate in Gauteng and the Bank can recover their investment within a month. If a customer, like us who spend years investing on the property believing that the bank will meet us halfway does not succeed, what chance does the next generation stand to build value in this country (South Africa). It’s high time the banks look at each case on merit and not generalize.