THE FACTS
JOSEPH Zulu from Joburg came to the SunDefender, saying he took out a loan with African Bank in 2016.
He said he was paying as per agreement but last December, he was unable to pay because he lost his job. He informed the bank, but he has been receiving calls demanding that he honours his repayments.
WHAT I DID
I spoke to African Bank to help in resolving the problem.
SOLUTION
Jacqui Moloi from African Bank replied in writing, saying Joseph increased the limit on his credit card in February 2017.
This was approved and his monthly repayments were updated. He applied for debt review in July 2018 and the bank received payments via the debt counsellor. At the time, the bank reduced his monthly instalment.
He informed the bank in January this year that he had lost his job in December, and asked for it to stop debiting his account. The bank has not received any payments from his debt counsellor since then.
African Bank should have received notification from his debt counsellor that his circumstances had changed, and the bank would have put a hold on his payments for three months. But no form was received.
The matter has been adjusted and the bank has extended the hold until the end of April. The bank has apologised for the breakdown in communication.
