Standard Bank Sucks

Two weeks ago Standard Bank was the first bank to announce various debt holidays for among others things, student loans. I was singing their praises for being so magnanimous and forward thinking, and have no doubt that their widely reported gesture forced other banks to follow suit.

On the 22nd of March we received an sms confirming that Standard Bank was giving us a payment holiday on our student loans from 1 April to 30 June, at zero interest and with zero fees. The message also stated the following: "This is an automatic offer that requires no action from you". Hallelujah!!!!!! A bank that is really on the ball and looking after their customers.

Not really.

Today the student loan debit order kicked in as usual. It took us over half an hour to get through to a helpline consultant, who knew absolutely nothing about any payment holiday. He's told us to phone the collections department tomorrow (another half hour phone call I presume) to see if they can do anything.

Really? Really Standard Bank? What the hell is going on? Surely the first thing you do if you're offering payment holidays is to let your staff know so they can action the whole thing. Or is this just a huge mistake and you've decided to renege on your promises?

Which is it? I'm waiting with bated breath.