Standard Bank South Africa
Reviews and Complaints

When we first defaulted we were approached by an external debt collector. We were placed on what was called a 70% rehab program. We started paying this amount and after the first month, I was called by the bank 2 find out why we were not paying the full amount. The gentleman I spoke 2 then said he is freezing the account & that Standard bank will call us. After 4 months i called the bank 2 find out what was happening. We were told that there is no recollection of this and that we need 2 pay the outstanding amount 2 avoid further action. I then contacted the debt collector who stated that she no longer deals with the account & that it has been handed back 2 the bank. When I got hold of the debt collector from standard bank, she stated she would get back 2 me but never, this was around Dec2007. In Jan when I contacted the bank again I was told that this lady no longer works there and that someone will contact me regarding the matter. No contact was received. I Then called the bank again and they still have no record of anything. I complained 2 hello perter the bank called. I am on debt review but the bank is still wanting 2 auction my house 4 defaulting.

I called her on [protected] and asked her to assist me with getting a settlement letter for a mutual client. She picked up the clients details using the I.D number and the client’s initials. She then asked me to forward her a notification letter via her email address [Hidden Web Address] and I sent her the letter on the same day. I then called her to find out when will I be receiving what I had requested, Theresa said to me she was not at work the day after I sent it and said she has a lot of emails asking me to resend the notification letter. I resent the Email and still Theresa didn’t get back to me. I called her again and she said she didn’t get the email and asked that I resend the letter assuring me that I will receive the letter on [protected] at 10h00. She replied to my email on [protected] asking me for an account number, I emailed back giving her the clients I.D, initials and surname as she had previously confirmed the clients account using those details. Theresa still didn’t reply. I have a recorded conversation between Theresa and I and she confirms the details for me without wanting an account number. A week later she is not willing to assist or is she being lazy?

My Master card was blocked by Standard bank in January 2009 due to another being in default. I have since paid the other credit card up to date and was promised by one of your staff members that the stop would be removed from my account. I have conducted my Standard bank credit card account in a satisfactory manor from day one by paying every month the minimum payment required.

I took out a travel wallet into which I deposited all our holiday monies. Much to our dismay we can not draw any cash out of it as the USA ATM's do not accept the password that was given to us! I contacted the helpline number in SA that is indicated on the card. I was told that I can take the travel wallet card into any bank and they will assist us by drawing cash out of it. That is NOT the case. We went to 3 different banks in Annapolis MD, and they refuse to give us any monies out of the card because there is no name indicated on the front of the card. I even showed them proof of the deposit of our holiday monies into the card but they are not interested. I was also told by the standard bank customer care agent that my only option is to pay with the card for all purchases. That is fine but we do need cash! You can not pay for a cup of coffee with a travel wallet! That is ridiculous! So we are basically stranded and nowhere to turn to for standard bank to assist us. When you phone them in SA you hold on and on until your phone card has run out. AND you need cash to buy one! I find this service appalling!

When a Credit Card is issued to a user, Blue Bean ensures that CreditLife insurance is taken out to cover outstanding balance in case of death and permanent disability. THE BIGGEST *** EVER! My husband fell ill during July 2008, he was diagnosed with severe liver disease and found to be permanent disable to work. I have informed Standard Bank what the situation was - I don't think that they even bother to note this on their system as the Call Centre harassed me on the Phone from 07h00 in the morning till sometimes 21h00 at night Saturdays included. Demanding payment. After explaining them the situation, they accepted my answer... till the next morning! i have taken this matter up with Emily, Mary, John, Onteretsi, Salome, Nicole, Flora etc. Numerous correspondence were send to different departments but to no avail. In May 2009 a forensic inspector from Standardbank investigated my husbands activities to establish whether he really is disabled. In the meantime Blue Bean has handed us over to Brooks & Luyt attorneys who also threatened to write our property up. How can Blue Bean put you on ITC if the internal paperwork is not finalized yet? HELLO IS THERE SOMEONE OUT THERE?

Kgomotso at lost card stated that Andrea (ref [protected]) at customer service mislead me that I could temporarily stop my debit card (dc), as I have misplaced my pin for same, and could then go into a branch with the dc and id to uplift without any charges.Komotso advised I would have to cancel my dc and pay for new one (R80.00), and would have to do all this at a branch. All this despite there being a facility at call centre where you can have your pin number read to you, an option I tried but my information was incorrect, The incorrect info I may have inputted was a cvc number I could not find on the back of my debit card. You are not told that the option does not apply to dc but I was told by one employee (andrea) that its only for internet banking, and by kgomotso that its only credit card. Because of the conflicting stories, lies and general incompetence, I demanded to speak to Komotso's supervisor. After initially lying that all supervisors were in a meeting, she put me through to Rachel Mabizela ([protected]). She basically told me to go to a branch. What is the point of a call centre if you need to go into a branch to get anything done?

Late September 2009 I travelled from South Africa to UK with my 15 year old daughter on holiday. My daughter is a client of Standard Bank and I got her a Travel Wallet (A temporary debit card loaded with foreign currency for overseas transactions) from her bankers where 350 GBP was initially loaded. A further 500 pounds was loaded as we encountered the problems stated below.

All transactions that were not successful were debited against the card but not reversed with a credit. We always phoned the ATM operators or followed up with the respective merchants who confirmed that the transactions had been reversed.

By the time we left London on 3rd October 2009, Standard Bank and their counterparts HSBC Bank London PLC oweed us 350 Pounds. Our e-mail to Standard Bank while in UK about our plight yielded no response. Back home in South Africa we are told by the Standard Bank Lynnwood Ridge Branch that it takes 14 days to update the card.

They obviously think that somebody would hang around at a holiday resort for 14 days while waiting for them to update the card.

Last week I arranged for a bank check from a ABSA investment to be made out in my name. No problem. They issued it immediatly. I needed it for a very important transation over the weekend. I needed to deposit it in my Standard cheque account. Saterday morning I went to the Standard Bank Branch in Northcliff Cresta. I wanted to deposit the cheque but was told by the cassier it would take 5 business days to clear. Very long story short. Another option was to cash a Standard Bank investment. I landed up with Mr Loonat. Who simply just said that I can't get any money immediatly no matter what I do. I asked him why I had to wait 5 days for a bank cheque from me to me to clear. His answer was it all depends on your relationship with the bank! Well Mr Loonat, with an attitue like that I want no relationship with Standard Bank. Thank you very much. I landed up cashing the ABSA at ASBA cheque and with thousands of Rand in cash had to walk on Beyers Naude between ABSA and Standard to get the money into my account. I want to move the last sent I have atleast away from the Northcliff branch and Mr Loonat and accually from Standard bank.

How does it happen that a credit card gets send to a post office in a suburb kilometers away from the one I live in? When I phoned Standard bank, I was told the two post offices, one in Rivonia and one in Orange Grove, share the same postal code - which of course is wrong, except that the so-called Secure Mail system has the same code for both! The best Std.Bank could come up with, was to suggest they reroute my credit card back to the bank where they would destroy it and send me a new card! To be sent to the same post office again? In my opinion their service is one of the worst I've come across - why they have to send credit cards to post offices to be collected, is beyond comprehension - I would be more than willing to collect it from the bank. Even if Standard Bank doesn't respnod, perhaps this will alert people to the fact that even their so-called security systems aren't flawless.

I'm writing this report on behalf of my parents who fell victim to a house robbery on Sunday afternoon (4 October). I spoke to Simon from Home Assist on Sunday who advised me that my parents could use up to R2000 to secure the household. He also advised that he would log a call on the system so that the claims dept would call my parents first thing in the morning. My Mom received an SMS this morning confirming this as well which she confirmed via phone as well. By 10 no call from claims dept. Mom called and shocked to hear the response from the claims dept that they know nothing and that the ref number we had with the home assist counts for nothing. A claim was registered only then and my mom was assured that someone would be sent out to the property to ensure that the damage is repaired and the house properly secured. By 16:00 no news. Calling claims again resulted in the response that my parents logged the call too late and that is the reason no contractor can come out today. Standard Bank made them feel like victims for the second time. Thanks to you they have to spend another night feeling very insecure in their own homes due to poor inter dept communication.

I have never been so appalled by the lack of respect and level of arrogance by the collections consultant that contacted my wife, who is the principal account holder, today. We have been struggling for some time now since we did not have an income for more than five months towards th end of last year. As a result, account arrears have snowballed. I have made efforts to get back on a stable footing and have paid them for several months. Recently, it had become increasingly hard to do. We informed the Standard Bank of our plight and were informed that we will be paying from the end of October 2009. We were then told, in no uncertain manner, that we will be handed over and they are not responsible if the Sherriff of the court comes and takes our things. We were at one stage selling our things to put food in our house and I don't appreciate this attitude. I have since emailed a letter to them outlining my complaints and have instructed them to forward all further queries on the account to me as I will not tolerate people disrespecting my wife. We are people not just account numbers.

I closed my credit card on the 29th of April 2009 (and not long after my standard bank current account as well due to bad service). I still have a copy of the e-mail send to [Hidden Email] requesting to close my account together with proof that the card was destroyed.

Today, more than 5 months later, I receive a sms (of all things - no phone call, no statement for 5 months BUT an sms) stating that my account is in arrears, and requesting payment as soon as possible. If I have questions I must phone them.

Can Standard Bank please explain to me how an account be in arrears that has been closed since April this year.

I deposited R 6000 via EFT into the wrong account few weeks back.

Immediatley I asked Standard Bank to reverse as it was a mistake. They refused & were unwilling unless the ac holder whom the money went to agreed & signed some documents Luckily the a.c holder agreed & drove to his branch, 40minutes away & signed the documents.

Since then nothing has changed.

After calling numerous times & finally getting through, now they tell me their staff forgot to submit the documents & everything has to be resigned!

Standard Bank have the most useless staff & service from all the banks, .

Their managers are just as useless, incompetent & behave like ***! They always in meetings & out of reach. Never calll back. Maybe Standard Bank managers are suffering from the recesssion with bad pay thus not willing to assist a customer in retrieving their money back.

Pathetic service, the worst bank in SA.

I will be sueing Standard Bank for all the trouble caused.

Standard Bank are a disgrace to our beautiful country. This company should be closed down together with all their useless managers & staff.

I have been banking with Standard bank for five years now, and their service is still the same it doesnt improve. and now to make the matters worse their sms updates when using your card doesnt report to you immediatelly, every time i withdraw the money or swipe my card i will receive the sms notifications after two days. where is the safety there? I spoke to other people asking them when are they getting notifications and they told me that they are nolonger using standard bank for their main accounts because of they are not reliable with the updates. i am considering to switch my salary to other bank if this problem continue. they advised me to get a cheaque account and i did that but nothing has changed.

Reduction order placed on my accounts overdraft facility without my consent. Amount excessive and not affordable and not discussed with me. First contact with Randburg branch last week ([protected]) to resolve issue, no feedback. Continuously calling branch for feedback (+- 4 times), nobody contacting me to resolve. This has caused huge inconvenience. Can someone from Standardbank contact me urgently; thus far service from Randburg branch has been pathetic. Definitely not “Moving Forward”.

I closed my credit card account two weeks ago and asked for some sort of confirmation that this had been done. I was told that they could not do this. I was told to get the letter as proof or my building loan at another bankcould not be approved. I went back to Standard bank on Friday last week and Taryn the consultant told me that she would mail the letter to me on Monday.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and another 3 days waisted waiting around because of bad service.

Why is it so diffucult to write a letter confirming that an account has been closed.

Just when I thought that standard bank was one of the best bank after FNB they just prove me wrong they have the worst service like eskom and their power cuts. I skipped my home loan monthly payment and I have been paying + - R1300 to bring it up to date and when I called in on the 260609 @ 09:37:22 I spoke to Nazir who told me that there was an outstanding amount I made a payment for June 09 & I called in again on the 240709 @ 11:35:59 I spoke to Vusi I asked him how much was still in arrears and he told me that my account was up to date insisted dat he should double check and he confirmed again that my account was up to date coz I have been paying R1300 more every month, I was so surprised and irritated when I was called on the 250809 by Lerato who told me that my account is in arrears I asked her to check again & she confirmed I’m not in arrears later that day I was called by Bingo who said dat my account is still in arrears & today Vincent called. I even took out insurance with standardbank hole loan coz I waz under the impression dat my account is up 2 date. I still have a call recording when Vusi told me that my account is not in arrears pls give me de email address.

Standard Bank is advertising that there is a surplus pension fund payout and staff that worked for the company during a certain period of time are urged to contact a certain number.

Let me tell you, to get through to this number seems to be impossible. You hold on for 2-3 minutes and then a voice tells you that YOU have exceeded the Alexander Forbes service level and will now be forced to leave a message. No matter how many times you try, YOU WILL BE FORCED TO LEAVE A MESSAGE.

And then, to supposedly make things easier, you can leave your fax number (not sure if they have heard of scanning facilities and e-mail), and they will send you an application form. HAHA, what a joke. You can also leave your fax number 1, 000, 000 times, you probably won't get the fax.

Now it makes me wonder. Does Standard Bank really want to payout the surplus funds to the ex-staff who contributed to this fund, or do they want time to run out for you to submit an application so that the funds can be paid to the select few?

Standard Bank's attitude on credit card fraud is laid back and a don't care mentality. After speaking to Ellias, Patrick, leaving messages for Cheryl Hogg and Jean Scholtz, I am still awaiting a call back for SOMEONE to assist me with a fraudulent transaction that took place on my credit card which Standard Bank are holding me liable for. Standard Bank, my question to you is who is clearing fraudulent amounts deposited and then charging the unsuspecting clients, another way you are inspiring people, I don't think so, get your house in order Jacko Maree, your service is substandard to say the least.

I have been using the overdraft facility almost five years but now all of a sudden the service was taken away without proper consultation.I feel this is extremely harsh beyod explanation because this is partialy my way of life and I would never rob the bank or have intentions of emmigrating away with the bank balances. I live here, I have been living here paying all that I`m required to pay and no one has ever offered to pay for me neither did at any stage the bank allowed me to skip an unpayed intallment or instalments.
So I am appealling for mercy.
Please remove this order against my overdraft.