WESBANK Early Settlement Penalties

I decided to settle the outstanding balance on my vehicle finance but was shocked to learn that I ended up paying over R5000 in penalties for early settlement. This was because I failed to give them 3 Months notice before settlement. Nowhere on the "Settlement Quotation" that was sent from Wesbank did it break down the settlement amount reflecting the R5000 penalty I was paying. Even a warning about the required notice period to avoid the penalty. I can only conclude that they don't disclose the information because they want to "*****" you one last time before you leave.

I queried this with the call centre only after I received a settlement statement that showed the penalty that I had already paid and was told that it was in my contract when I signed 3 years ago and I should have done due diligence for myself.

After being a long standing account holder with WESBANK and FNB, who never missed a payment in all my years, this leaves a real bitter feeling with me. I am not querying the penalties that they are allowed to charge for any "Large" credit agreement >R250K according to NCR. I am disappointed that they don't play all the cards on the table so that you can make an informed decision. If, on the settlement quotation I received a breakdown of the settlement amount, I would have given the 3 months notice. Even though I am pretty sure that all the Vehicle Financing companies are as "Sneaky" as Wesbank, I will take any future business elsewhere and never use Wesbank again.