Worst Bank Ever

I was a client with Standard Bank for over 15 years. I started banking with them when I was still at university (around 2004) and had a student loan with them. I continued my business with them when I started working as we had built up a bit of a history at that time. However, their service over the years have gone from bad to terrible (I'm specifically referring to the Hatfield branch here in Pretoria -- I don't know how the other branches stack up). So, let me explain:

I bought my house in 2010 and they provided me with my first home-loan. The initial interest rate was good as it was below prime. In 2017 I took an additional bond against the house for improvements and renovations. This resulted in my final interest rate to be pushed up to prime. I then visited the Hatfield branch numerous times to try and negotiate for a better interest rate and every time the response that I got from them was that they MOST CERTAINLY couldn't help me with a better interest rate.

I knew they weren't telling the truth and that they could give me a better interest rate. The reason being that I had a very good credit score and some of my work colleagues that were much younger than me were getting better interest rates at their banks. So, out of frustration I then visited an FNB branch and talked to one of the consultants there. They were very helpful and told me that if I switched over all of my banking to FNB they would be able to give me a much better interest rate than what Standard Bank was giving me at the time. This was quite a surprise to me, seeing as I was a loyal Standard Bank customer for over 15 years and FNB could immediately help me with a better interest rate.

And so, I called Standard Bank for a final time to try and find out if they could give me a better interest rate. The person that dealt with the home-loans at the time blatantly **** to me and said that they couldn't help me with a better interest rate. I then told him that I would then switch over to FNB as they could give me a much better interest rate. I sent the FNB documents through as proof, and only after that were they willing to match what FNB could give me.

Well, at this point I started the process to switch all of my banking over to FNB because the whole ordeal just left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm only angry at myself that I didn't switch over to FNB much earlier. I should have went to FNB for the initial quote on the home loan back in 2011.

So basically, If you want to be with a bank that values you as a customer don't do business with Standard Bank. Rather consider one of the other banks. I've been very pleased with the level of service that I'm currently receiving with FNB so far.