Standard Bank service declining over the years.

Full of jobsworth bureaucracy and petty obstruction. Closed my account after more than 30 years. Private bankers in Secunda were fantastic, but when we moved Witbank, and wanted to open a business account, SB wanted a deluge of documentation and private bankers at this site were unhelpful. So we walked across the road to FNB and opened an account with far less hassle. Shifted most of my personal banking to FNB as well. Kept my SB account more out of habit and loyalty than anything else. For a long time it did not sink in that SB were charging over R100 pcm to keep this account open [with a balance of well over R300 000]. They called me to see a financial adviser to discuss this balance just sitting there: told him I just wanted to close the account, would someone assist me? Never heard anything.

Eventually decided to close it of my own accord. First they wanted proof of new address: would not accept a copy of our lease agreement. Insisted on an original: who gets to keep their original?! FNB accepted the copy of lease with no trouble to change our address. So had to get copy of FNB statement to prove new address to SB! Another visit on another day in the queue.......... Another SB rep told me the first SB should have accepted the copy lease i.e. I had been unnecessarily messed about. When asking to close account, was told this had to be done in 2 steps: first transfer all the funds to FNB account, then come back a few days later to officially close. Yet another rep did this on the spot. One hand does not know what the other does... The chip in my SB card was faulty: asked for a replacement: that will be R120. So never bothered. FNB charges me R55 pcm to run my account - but reverses this fee if my balance is sufficient. So I effectively pay zero. FNB now my only bank.