Seems like since the banks stopped granting home loans they turned their focus on selling insurance policies in order supplement their income.

The past two months I received numerous phone calls from the banks (especially Standard Bank) offering me insurance policies.

One thing I noticed is that most of their offers are real crappy deals designed to benefit the bank and not the client. But I mean what can you expect from a bank? They focus mainly on accident cover, funeral plans and hospital plans.

Two years ago it was the one credit card after the other, now it is bad insurance products. Seems like the banks will do anything in their power to get South Africans’ hard earned cash into their hands.

Today I just had enough.

Today an agent called on behalf of Standard Bank. Let me give you a hint. If somebody calls and say he calls on behalf of so and so bank and he asks “And how are you today Mr ***” then you can already reply with the word’ Fine thank and what are you selling today?”

If you reply with “I am fine and how are you?” they will also reply with “I am fine, thank you for asking” Test it next time, that is the standard script for them all.

A while ago some guy from Standard Bank called and offered me a hospital plan. I told the guy that I already have enough cover and I were not interested. He just persisted and did not want to let go. I had time and was in a good mood so when he told me there is a 30 day cooling off period I though that the only way to get the bastard off my back is to take the policy and just cancel it again afterwards. I did exactly that. One thing that amazed me is that you can cancel it within 30 days but they only send you your contract after 30 days. A rather nifty trick from the bank to make sure it is not easy to cancel it.

The same guy told me that “because you are a valued client of Standard Bank they would like to reward you with….” So I just burst out lathing and asked him “Since when does the bank cares about their clients?”

Anyway, the reason for this post. I would like to make you aware of your rights. According to the wonderful new FAIS act that was implemented these guys may not sell you a policy if you cannot afford it and most of all if you tell them that you are not interested they are not allow to push you any further. It seems as if they are ignoring this at the moment.

The guy from Standard Bank who phoned this morning just did not want to give up. I told him numerous times I was not interested and he just kept on ignoring me and went on with his standard script. In the end I asked him if he knows about the FAIS act and if he knows that he is not allowed to push me any further. I made it clear to him that if the clients says “No thank you I am not interested” that he is supposed to say “OK, thank you, sorry for bothering you” and then say cheers.

So remember the next time when a telemarketer from the bank phones you and you say NO he is supposed to stop selling and leave you alone. If he keeps on with his rotten sales pitch tell him that he is not acting according to the FAIS act. Seems like that is the only way to get them off your back.

Another tip is not to accept their offer immediately. Most of these offers made to me  are real crap. If you take your time and look what is available in the market you will find that you can get much better deals at most of the big insurance companies.