Standardbank - the worst services

I completed the online application for a study loan in the week of the 9th of January. The application was pre-approved and I was told the visit the branch within 15 days to submit my supporting documents. I drove from Centurion and my dad (who was the surety) from Middelburg on 13 January 2018 to the Witbank Highveld mall branch to submit my supporting documents. The consultant who assisted me was Nomsa Mlangeni. She told us that she was still new and was left all alone to consult the clients (how can you leave a trainee alone on a Saturday without any supervision). She told us that she couldn’t find my application on the system but that she could capture it manually. She then asked for three months’ payslips from my dad to complete the income and expenses. We only had one payslip because the system told us to only bring the latest payslip (December 2017). She then took all my documents and said she will capture it on Monday when we send her all three months’ payslips. She then assured me that I would not have to drive to Witbank again to sign the documents and she will courier it to Pretoria for me to sign. We send the payslips during the week and she captured the information. Nomsa’s supervisor called me on 18 January to say my documents are ready to be signed and my dad and I should go to the Witbank branch (in the Saveway shopping centre) to sign the documents. I then called Nomsa to ask her why she couldn’t send the document to Pretoria for me to sign (like she told me to). She then said that my dad and I have to be present to sign the documents. I then accepted this and arranged with my dad to go and sign the documents on 19 January. My dad and I both took off work to drive to Witbank to sign the documents like Nomsa told us to do. On our arrival at the branch the lady told us that our application was declined and there was no documents to sign. We asked her why it was declined and she went to ask the manager to ask the reason. She came back to me and said Nomsa made a mistake on the application and they have to correct it and it will again take a week. We then asked to talk to the manager. She also confirmed that the mistake was made by Nomsa and that the mistake will be corrected and within 4days we will have a contract again and we have to come and sign again. We told her we couldn’t come again because we already took off work and drove here because Nomsa said the documents are ready to be signed.

This is unacceptable. Just because the employees at Standardbank Witbank is *********** to do their job means that I can’t get my study loan. Not once did anyone apologise for their mistake. They kept pointing fingers at us although the manager admitted that the mistake was with Nomsa.

Nomsa called me the afternoon after I emailed her and told her to send me a formal letter on the reason why we got declined. She told me that I made the mistake on the online application and that was the reason for the decline. First of all she told us on 9 January she couldn’t find my application that’s why she needed three months’ payslips to complete the application and second of all she called me on the 18th and said I must go and sign the documents. How can you call a client to ask them to come and sign if the application was declined and no documents were ready for signing? She knew that I have to drive far but she still did not inform me or make an effort to check the application status.

I am utterly disappointed with Standardbank and I will never refer anyone to do business with then and I will never make use of their services again. My dad is with Standardbank now for 30 years and this is how you repay a loyal client? I will made sure my dad moves all his accounts to another bank and I already app**** at FNB bank and they approved me with 30 minutes and the money will be send to us with a few days. Take a step back and learn from the best bank in South Africa.