Standard bank keeps us drowning in debt

So, in 2013 my wife had app**** for a consolidation loan with Standard bank. She was offered an Advance account which settled all our debt and reduced our instalments. Things were great for about a year before I lost my job and for about 10 months or so we missed those instalments. We did inform Standard bank of the situation back then and we were not harassed or pressured for payment during that time. Once Standard bank started debiting my wife's account again the instalment increased by about R500. We gladly paid the instalments without question however unbeknownst to us Standard had handed over the account to attorneys for collection. Since 2014 to present Standard bank had not made a single attempt to contact us. We visited the bank on numerous occasions to speak to anyone from the Advance account department but no avail. We decided to speak to the attorneys that had our account and have been paying R4000 every month for the past 6 years. During that time Standard bank handed the account to another collection agency even though they were receiving their instalment every month. The 2 collection agencies that were instructed by Standard bank then began sending emails, smses and trying to call everyday at least 3 times a day each. All while adding their exorbitant fees for every attempt made. This means that in the past 7 years we've paid roughly R300000 towards a R250000 debt of which our outstanding balance is currently R238000. How does that even make sense? We've requested a statement of account from the collection agencies yet to date we have not even received a reply, nothing! Now the attorneys are demanding that we double the instalments from R4000 to R8000, which is two thirds of our salary, every month. It seems that Standard bank just wants to keep us in debt. We've requested that Standard bank reviews the outstanding amount and restructure the balance as the high interest rate is not allowing us to reduce the outstanding amount. We did this through the attorneys and to date no feedback whatsoever. The "demand for payment" email however, is one thing anyone can bank on as those emails are consistently sent every single day. We have had enough of being forced to accept whatever decisions the bank and attorneys choose to impose on us. We will be reporting the bank to the Banking Ombudsman for investigation. The two attorneys that were assigned to us will be reported to the relevant authority as well. Are two collection agencies allowed to collect on the same account at the same time? Why has the initial loan amount only been reduced by around R20000 after 7 years of paying R48000 a year with the initial term being just 7 years??? How many more people in similar situations are you doing this to? If Standard bank does not attempt to resolve this matter promptly then we will be going all out to launch a full investigation into the entire matter. This is ridiculous!