ABSA Bank
Reviews and Complaints

ABSA: 14-YEAR OLD CREDIT CARD VS. 4-YEAR OLD BANK ACCOUNT?
13 September 2018: I applied for a loan / revolving credit / overdraft / credit card with ABSA, my bank, only to find out that I apparently already have an existing credit card = no less than 14 years old. Sitting on the system. Under debt counselling / review.

No statements.
No phone calls.

I closed my ABSA account AT THE BRANCH, approximately 17 years ago. I walked over to Nedbank, and opened an account there. I had had quite enough, that day, of ABSA.

4 years ago I opened a savings account at ABSA in Kempton Park.
Not a word was mentioned about a credit card being on my name.

I've been with ABSA all this time.
Not a word was mentioned about a credit card being on my name.

Not until the day I walked into Lucky Mokobane's office, asking for credit from my bank.

It was Lucky who got Tinyiko Makhubela on the line, at the card division. She told me to email contact card, which I did.

I demanded the signature for the card, where it was spent, and when. If It was me, I wanted proof. Having had my bag stolen out of my car around that time, I was worried about identity fraud.

A week later: Nothing.

I called. I emailed.
Nothing.

I finally got an email back from Sebolelo Snail, who I (till today) cannot reach.

I called again.

I got through to Phulani Motapa (but I was told later she is Phulani Mosia?). She assured me that

1) There was a note on the system, put there by Tinyiko, stating that the card was being removed from my name
2) That my reference number for the call / card being closed was ********** ********** 00
3) That this was being resolved expediently, and to not worry.

I then emailed Lucky, thrilled. Letting him know I would be through soon, as this card has damaged my chances for any assistance from ABSA.

2 days later I called again.
I eventually ended up at both your Auckland Park branch, and your head office, trying to track Tinyiko Makhubela. Why can no one find this woman?

I finally tracked Phulani down again, who didn't speak to me, but told me via the consultant I was talking to that she would email Tinyiko.

In fact, 3 separate consultants insisted that they were emailing Tinyiko to call me, but that no one could give me her 1) number 2) email.
HR at your head office has her listed as Auckland Park. They've never heard of her.

I finally got through to Solange and her boss, Lorraine.
Now I believe the card and my query are under investigation and it will take 21 working days.

What about me, the client?
What about my credit worthiness with ABSA, and the help I need?

How could this have remained under wraps for 14 YEARS?

This is completely unfair, and unacceptable practice.

I don't want to wait 21 days.
I want answers.
ABSA has had 14 Years to resolve this.

I don't have a bank, as things currently stand.
I certainly don't have service.

I do, however, have one brilliant consultant, by the name of Lucky Mokobane.
He calls to check on the progress.
He takes an interest in his clients.

ABSA puts a card on your name for 14 years and destroys your credit chances with them - but they don't tell you about it.

No matter how many times I call or forward the emails to ABSA: NOTHING. No answers.
What I got today: The matter is with Legal.
And?
Nothing further.

I hung up, horribly frustrated and near tears.

Maybe Lucky should start his own bank. At least people will get service.

I received an call from Brooks & Luyt Inc telling me that I was handed over to them by ABSA. That I took a loan from ASBA.
Why was I not called by ABSA before I was handed over?

Please someone must call me regarding this issue-I been called everyday by Brooks & Luyt regarding this issues .Whereas im waiting for them to get the documents from ASBA showing that I did take a loan .

Please call Mrs Chetty on [protected]

Good Day

I would like to express my disappointment with regards to the changes made in connection with the banking app. i have been doing my transactions via internet baking without any problems. But since the new change to send all the messages to the banking app i'm unable to get the surecheck messages and therefore cant transact. My phone cant download the app so what do i need to do now? go buy a new phone? i am now forced to go aground carrying large amounts of cash to make deposits which I feel is unsafe for me. I've been to the bank several times to go change it back to receiving sure check messages but I've been told that i cant do certain transactions anymore without the new app. This is such an inconvenience and a disappointment.

I opened a new business account in August and requested for personalized cards. Its the 5th of October today, countless number of calls and still no cards. Worst of all i closed down my other account. Now I'm stuck. What do i do? Who do i complain to?
Each time i call someone says they will check and get back to me but it never happens. Today i was put on hold for over 30 minutes and they still couldn't get me through to the person who can assist me.

The Officer in Charge
Client Services

Dear Sir/Madam

ABSA bank had a branch in Centre Point Centre, Loxton Road, Milnerton, Cape Town, untill 2013.
This centre building was then demolished in 2013 and was rebuilt into a modern shopping centre and opened for business recently.
Taking into consideration that ABSA already had a branch there in the old centre, why can ABSA not open a branch again in the new centre?
I see that Nedbank has already a new branch there.
I know ABSA clients (people staying in Milnerton), who will be very pleased if ABSA can open a branch again in Milnerton.
Presently it is very inconvenient for these residents of Milnerton (especially elderly persons) to do their banking business outside Milnerton.
They still remember the good old days, when ABSA still had a branch in Milnerton.
Your urgent attention to this matter will be greatly appreciated.
I shall be pleased to learn from you in this regard.

Regards
P.L. Scholtz

Hi,

My name is Sylvester Edem Ekpenyong, with card number [protected]
I have made several attempts to resolve the linking of my absa card to online banking, been to the Branch more than 3 times to receive and link my card to online banking, called your office of 3 occassions to get this resolved but unable to do as they kept sending me back to the branch at anytime i called. Hence, I refused to make anymore payments to my credit card as i am unable to track and trace all my detailed tyransactions on my account for the lack of Online internet banking.

My believe is that my account might have been compromised and i am unsure how this is because i have no view of my detailed statements. Please this needs to be resolved before any further payment is made to Absa Bank or this will be escalated further.
Name: Sylvester Edem Ekpenyong'
DOB: 19-09-1976
Number: [protected]/[protected]

Dear Sir/ Madam

My Name is Mr Onyedikachi Nicholas Bassey and account holder with ABSA with account number [protected].

I am writing to request your assistance with change of my medium of recieving OTP from phone to my Email address. I registered for my OTP initially using my Cell C phone number, [protected].
How ever, I am presently out of the country for a business trip in Asia and i will be spending more days here and the phone number that I linked to my account doesnt have coverage here that i am at the moment.

However i have tried to transfer funds into my ABSA account and also use those funds for my business but each time i tried to do the online banking, OTP will be sent to the phone. This makes it difficult for me to effect my transaction.

I crave your indulgence to accord me the necessary assistance to enable me transact with my ABSA account.

I will be looking forward to your favourable response.

Thanks and in anticipation for your speedy resonse.

Yours Sincerely,

ON Bassey
+63 [protected]

After being unemployed, and not able to make my vehicle finance payments as regularly as I did over the past 2 + years - I find myself dealing with an incredibly difficult, intolerable individual at Absa Risk. So lets put this into perspective: I am 4 months in arrears IN TOTAL . I have taken every call from ABSA, replied to every message, kept them 100% up-to-date on my situation - I have made payments when I have had the cash. On the 1st October 2018, I informed Jason (the risk guy at ABSA) that I started a new job, had paid R4600 into the account and would pay A MINIMUM of DOUBLE payments from the end of October until the outstanding was paid up (4 months). He sms'ed me to tell me "that this would not be acceptable and that they required 60% of the outstanding before they would enter into any agreements with me". I then messaged him today (2nd Oct) to say that I would pay R20 000 (I only owe R22715) at the end of October when I got paid, but I really needed a car to get to work . Today (2 October) he tells me that this is also "not acceptable and I must make payment by the end of this week".
Really ABSA ? How can this be customer centric or cost effective to yourselves to have this attitude, or conducive to any working relationship?
I will provide all communication entered between myself and Jason to validate these statements. Please can a humane individual make contact with me to resolve this issue in a professional manner?

01/10/2018 - 0930, attended Absa George George, my recommendation to my friend as a good bank with Forex facilities as he is immigrating from Switzerland to South Africa with his family .Eventually saw client consultant who started the paperwork to open an account for his son and himself @ 1045 am was told could not proceed as the Manager/ assistant who would endorse the FICA documentation were not available and we were instructed to return @13.30 to proceed . we did so and sat for some 45 minutes ...( no one thought to get the missing manager to do signatures in the mean time !) then we proceeded to complete the paperwork...at 1615 the consultant told us that the credit veri branch in Cape town was not answering her calls, so we could not open the account and she would chase first thing this morning to conclude and phone us to come back . Again after lunch as we had not received a call my friend went back and waited/ saw same consultant who had told us day before they require 6 hrs to process so should be completed by lunch time- again told that nothing had been done, they would phone him tomorrow ( day 3 ) to come back ...when i heard, i called the manager and said this is totally unacceptable practice, the mans a multi millionaire, just paid cash for 6.5 million rand house and want a bank account to send in Forex to purchase 2 new cars ( again cash @ 1.3 million ) and to set up a R50, 000.00 monthly Forex pension payment to his RSA bank to pay medical aid etc...)
The MANAGER in his telephonic feed back-as i had requested he look into the matter " that he did not tell the truth that he was a multi millionaire "( because when they asked @ amount pension monthly -he said @ R50K )...what difference should it make as to his private financial status, above his monthly pension that he planned to remit, on ABSA's ability to open a bank account for an individual ? and that response from a Bank manager !? dismayed me a now EX... ABSA loyal Fan as it was on my recommendation that my friend went to ABSA instead of its competitors ...thus i write this as to-morrow morning we will again, day 3 go and enlighten the manager of ABSA George that there is a Ned Bank right next door that i am sure is more than happy to sign up a high net individual who will earn them nice Forex income and eventually move all his investments to their Branch

I have unauthorized debit orders in my cheque account first this morning loan.finder debited R395 which I dont know what its for I never authorized anything or get into agreement with them
Now this night 4 debits orders took place
Unitedrew debited R95
Mediassis debited R45
Legal eye debited R45
Rescue247 debited R45
Please this must stop I never authorised any of this please

I had to het a nww chipped card due my card being very old. Since receiving the card last week Wednesday I have been experiencing issues daily my card keeps getiing declined if I try to make a purchase. I have been bavk to the back I hot it from. I went to Montaque gardens branch. Could draw money afterwards but purchase declined. All limits in order. Today I went to Brakenfel branch all was checked I could draw money but tonight when I tried to pay at pick and pay card decline. r200 purchase. I have now spent a total of 4 hours at the bank. I am unable to use this new card. My card was blocked on saterdag when I tried to make a purchase.

Can someone please assist. My adress has been changed on my banking and I went into the bank to have it fixed, had to get a police stamp went through all the trouble only to be told by the person doing the change that the area code is wrong wich she filled in on the form and then my adress is changed to my postal adress and my postal adress is now my street adress and everytime I log in it gives me the pop up screen to change this. Everything was fine so I dont know how it can just be changed on its own. The person helping me was not very helpfull as I was told I had to get police clearance again on my street adress once again not my mistake as I do not do the paperwork. Can someone please assist me to get this fixed as I will not go into a branch again to strugle with this issue that arose on its own.

Hi, i'm currently in europe for family reasons. I tried yesterday to do some online payments, but they were declined. It was working last week. "unsuccessful, not identified and verified". What can I do? Tried to call the bank all day yesterday, but of course no luck! It is absolutely ridiculous! How can a bank just block your account without even try to contact you before?!?!

In July 2018 an undated letter was hand delivery to my home from ABSA Collections . I subsequently made payment arrangement which i continue to honour. The consultant promised to suspend the debit orders but did'nt. ABSA continues to debit my account for the instalment as well which have were unpaid twice with charges. My credit record has been negatively impacted. It's very difficult to get hold of the consultant & his colleages can't help as they claim he keeps the file. I finally got hold of him around 14th September, and sent him an email to complain. He responded that ABSA won't be able to help me. Also, does'nt indicated if he'll suspend the debit order. Please help!

My dispute is that Absa has passed on my details to your department and accessed my account and debited the money without any form of communication in any way or form of residential or email adress to me as the client and account holder of that account.
I would like to state the following:
1.You accessed my account and took money without any concent from me as a client and principal account holder
2.You have never contacted me in any form
3.I am demanding the amount that was debited R6200.00 on the 25 September 2018 be refunded back to me, as this amount this amount that you debited without my consent was my only funds for my expense, chidren school fees including my rent.
4.Failing that, I am forced to escalate this matter to the Ombudsman including legal advice as your action does not go in line with the consumer protection act with regards to the date the personal loan was opened and money being deducted after 8 YEARS of opening the account with your institution.
Please contact me or email me on [protected]@vodamail.co.za to make arrangement only after you have refunded the amount that you have ILLEGALLY TAKEN FROM MY ACCOUNT
Please let me also state that should this not being done as the loan is more than 8 years outstanding I will be forced to take legal action and advice from ombudsman

I anxiously await your reply, call or email
Thank you
Stephens Koketso Dikobe
[protected]
[protected]@vodamail.co.za

Good day on 8/9/2018 there was a suspicion of fraud on my account ny account was blocked as I live in Australia my brother in law got a new card for me: since then I can't pay anything from my card. I did send a query to RVN Forensics and receive a ref number [protected] and that was the last respond I've made several phone calls on Thursday 18 calls to SA with no luck the people are rude or just cut my call off THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE I STILL HAVE NO ANSWER AFTER EXPLAINING WHAT THE TRUE STORY IS. I absolutely lost my confidence in Absa‼️Regards Hester van Rooyen

On February 15 2018 I contacted Maxi Ross at ABSA Humansdorp in regards to a student YP Oosthuizen with account number [protected] applying for a study loan for another year to study at Unisa and sent her the application with the relevant documents needed.
Begining March Miss Oosthuizen informed she would not study through Unisa as she was pregnant and I requested the application to be with drawn.
27 August I received an email from Maxi Ross indicating she did not withdraw the application for YP Oosthuizen account [protected]. No money was paid out for the student and she is now held responsible for the payment of her loan for an extra 12 months.
Can this please be reversed as I have had no response from the branch in Humansdorp in regards to my request.

T Cilliers
[protected]
[protected]@bornhunt.co.za

Good morning

I have been dealing with your Disputes Department (reference Lorraine/Dawn Minnaar) since the 25th April regarding a chargeback on the grounds of misrepresentation. Your Disputes department recognised the chargeback, R131, 236.48 was credited to my credit card account and the merchant 10Brokers was debited with the same amount. Your Disputes Department then debited my credit card with the same amount on the 14th August pending finalisation of the chargeback (a 30 day period from 13th August).
On 11th September the Disputes Department emailed me the merchant's response which they appeared to accept for some unknown reason, and my credit card was debited with 3 amounts totalling R147, 353.25. This obviously put my credit card balance way in excess of my limit so I was phoned by Credit Card Division and advised on the error. I asked them to liaise with Disputes Department, and on the 14th September my credit card was credited with an amount of R131, 236.48, which still left me R16, 116.77 in the negative.
I did not authorise the 3 debits made to my account on the 11th September, and therefore phoned your Fraud Division this morning to report the fraudulent transactions, only to be told that ABSA do not recognize forex trading transactions, and that these transactions were confirmation of the payments to the merchant authorised by me in February and March of this year! What absolute nonsense - an authorisation by me in February/March which was carried out by the merchant at that time cannot be duplicated by the merchant 6-7 months later.
I have provided ABSA Disputes with all the necessary supporting documentation which they appear not to have read when considering the chargeback response received from the merchant.
I have not attached all the documentation which is in the possession of your Disputes Division. I do not accept the outcome of the chargeback as the merchant's response was irrelevant and yet was not challenged by your Disputes Department. My trading account with the merchant is sitting on a credit balance of Euro 14, 798 which they will now not allow me to withdraw unless I pay them Euro 1, 184 in respect of taxes due because I reside in South Africa. As per my email to the Disputes Division sent this morning which read as follows, ABSA should proceed accordingly:
"I am extremely confused by your response. I have submitted documentation that clearly shows that I have money in my trading account and the merchant will not let me withdraw my funds. I have seen what the merchant sent and it did not address my claim at all. Why were they allowed to respond in such a manner and why has ABSA accepted this response? Did you even look at any of my documentation?

I have attached the screenshots to this email for your reference and I kindly request that you proceed to pre-arbitration on my behalf."

Attached is the documentation which was attached to my email.

I await your urgent response hereto.

Regards,

Kathryn Adie

The following Cheque fraud matter has now been outstanding since mid april 2018:

I sold my iPhone on the internet, IMEI - [protected], to a person calling himself Moses. [protected]. When the payment, R3900, reflected in my cheque account [protected] on 11 April 2018 I handed over the phone to his courier. The cheque deposit he made RD'ed and the amount was reversed on my account on the 13 April 2018. Since then I have put my account on hold and on Saturday I requested it to be frozen.

On the 11 April 2018 he said his wife "accidentally" deposited R13 900 into my account with a cheque. This amount again reflected in my account as a deposit/balance. He phoned me and asked to pay it back minus R400 charges. I reimbursed him R 13 500 via EFT. This cheque has also RD.

Again, on the 14 April 2018 he said his wife "accidentally" deposited R29 900 into my account with a cheque. This amount again reflected in my account as a deposit/balance. He again phoned me and asked to pay it back minus R400 charges. I did not reimburse him. This cheque has also RD.

I have reported it to the Sunnyside Police station, Sgt Sinugo, [protected], CAS 295/4/2018.

How can ABSA clear / reflect a Cheque deposit into my account balance if the cheque has not been cleared. According to my understanding it takes 10 days to clear a cheque deposit. If this matter is not resolved to my satisfaction I will be closing all my accounts and move to a bank where this is not possible. According to your fraud line this happens all the time. Also, how can I be responsible for the third party cheque deposit and Refer to Drawer fees?

How come that Absa is used by all online fraudsters to try and rob people?

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