I have been a FNB client for very long. Besides the fact that they lost about 3 of my international cheques in one your a couple of years ago I actually did not have a problem with their service. I like their internet banking, especially the fact that it is free. I must say here they score a point. While the other greedy banks charge for internet banking FNB gives it for free.

But this morning I just lost my marbles and I am furious to see how South African banks are allowed to rip off and steal from South Africans by means of bank charges. I think our banks should be ashamed of themselves. They show millions in profit for their share holders each year by stealing their clients hard earned cash. (I call it steal because it is such a huge rip-off it comes very close to theft.)

In one of the comments on the various “bank charges” articles on fin24.com one lady said that her salary was paid in late that month. Her bank was then too happy to charge her something like R120 for each debit order that bounced. In the end they took R1400 from her hard earned cash. The joke of the matter is although non of her debit orders could go off the bank took the R1400 in penalties even though there were no money in her account.

I have been monitoring these bank charges comments for some time now and what forced me to write this article today is that I was charged a R186.99 penalty because my credit card went over its limit by R5. To add salt to the injury the card went over its limit when FNB decided to deduct the interest over a weekend (on Saturday) and since Sunday FNB’s internet banking were offline until Monday night.

I see on fin24.com that in 2006 there was a bank charges probe, but what the heck, seems like it was just another useless exercise which cost the tax payer money with no real effect or purpose.

When I sent FNB a complain this morning theu sent me an auto generated email which among others said “We value you as a customer!” . I mean, what a big joke this is.

My opinion is that banks value their share holders only and they feel zilts for their customers. If our South African banks did feel anything for their customers they would employ some warning meganizms for bounced transactions or low account balances. I mean charging a client R186.99 penalty for a over the limit charge is like kicking the injured while he is on the ground.

All the banks are using SMS services now. In my opinion if the banks did feel something for their clients they would employ a service where they will send you sms when there is a problem. Even if they charge you R5.00 for a sms which cost them R0.05 it would still be better than charging your R186.99 penalty. Imagine you get a sms from your bank saying

“Hey, we know it is Saturday and it is out of business hours, but we sneaked into your account like a robber and deducted your interest for the month. We saw that your short R5. Lets be fair, if you pay in more funds to your account before the end of today we will not charge you a penalty”

Or what about

“Dear valued account holder. This is a a balance low notification. We detected that your balance is low and there are some interest charges that will be debited from your account tomorrow. Please top up your account today to avoid any penalty charges”

Would’t that be nice? If a bank does this you will really feel like  ”We value you as a customer!” and not burst out in laughter when the bank sends you such an email.

Although I am complaining about FNB in this article, I also hold accounts with Standard Bank and ABSA and I promise you that these ridiculous rip off charges are everywhere.

Perhaps it is time for South African banks to show that the really care for the people of South Africa. At the moment you show us that you are there to suck our bank accounts dry so that you can show R50 mil or more profit each year to keep your shareholders happy.

Also see:
http://www.hellopeter.com/fnb-complaint-[320807]

http://www.hellopeter.com/search_results.php?search=FNB&page=2