Category: Banks
Home-owner stops bank auction for the 2nd time
Mr & Mrs Franker lodged an urgent interdict against First National Bank, by which FNB wanted to place their house on auction for the 2nd time on Monday 16 September 2013, at 10:00 in the morning.
According to Mr Johan Muller, of Consumer Guardian Services (CGS) in Cape Town, FNB wanted to sell the house of the Franker family on a sale in execution, after taking judgement on the 2nd of June 2009. CGS did an investigation on the bond of the Frankers and determined that FNB, for a period of 5 years, used incorrect interest rates on the bond and made the judgement illegally.
According to Muller, the bank wanted to sell the property on 5 December 2011, but FNB realized that they wrongfully debited the account with R58, 809.37 interest.
The auction was stopped because of this incorrectly debited interest. According to Muller FNB undertook to compensate the client with all the legal fees, of R17, 215.94, and to have the judgment set aside. Not one of these undertakings materialized and FNB, once again, tried to sell the property of Mr & Mrs Franker on a sale in execution on 16 September 2013.
The legal team of CGS lodged an urgent interdict in the High Court of South Gauteng, Johannesburg, and stopped the auction.
The Franker Family now have 20 days to lodge their application for rescission of the judgement.
According to Muller (CGS), 91% of bonds in South Africa have been debited with incorrect interest and fees. He says that they regularly catch the banks with these mistakes.
Millions refunded in credit charges
Cape Town – Over R3 million has been refunded to consumers charged excessive interest and fees by credit providers, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) said on Tuesday.
NCR registrations manager Adrian Skuy said the National Credit Act specified the rate of interest and fees that credit providers could charge.
The act required credit providers to be registered when they entered into credit agreements with more than 100 consumers, or where a consumer’s principal debt exceeded R500,000.
The NCR had refunded R3m in excess charges since its inception in 2005.
Skuy said that where consumers had been overcharged by unregistered credit providers, the agreements were void from the outset and therefore not enforceable.
“This means that the consumer will be under no legal obligation to pay in terms of the agreement.
“For their part, the unregistered credit providers can only claim in terms of the common law on the basis of unjustified enrichment.”
Skuy advised against working with unregistered lenders, especially online providers.
These providers sometimes requested personal information online, increasing the risk of identity theft and fraud.
Consumers should look out for a provider’s NCR registration status and number on all credit agreements, and on a certificate displayed at a place of business. – Sapa
http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/millions-refunded-in-credit-charges-1.1561654#.UhGPAHs7DLh
Auction Alliance Scandal
Robin Hood to the rescue!
A whole lot has been written about Rael Levitt the embattled CEO of now disgraced company Auction Alliance. The whole scandal erupted after a complaint was lodged by billionaire businesswoman Wendy Appelbaum with the Consumer Complaints commission. Stories have appeared in both the mainstream and financial press. Levitt stepped down as CEO which has added further fuel to the fires that are raging around both the auction industries and financial and legal professions. It seems that this would be a battle of Goliath versus Goliath and would not have any impact on the man in the street. Not so however.
It’s a veritable can of worms that has left many people all the way down this particular food chain feeling very uncomfortable and nervous. Who wouldn’t be with SARS and various other bodies all rallying around to uncover the truth? It’s the stuff of good gangster movies and who knows, perhaps a movie in the making. Most people would simply shrug and walk away because they feel they have no recourse against this issue and trying to get their story heard let alone justice being served.
Turning the wheels of Justice
It would seem that the wheels of Justice do eventually turn albeit very slowly in South Africa. And, just how slowly seem to be the case when Elsie Gundwana found herself on the wrong side a case against her by Nedbank and Steko Development. Simply put, this woman was in the process of losing her home due to a sale in execution.
The problems started as far back as 2003 when the first judgment was passed against her. She then paid monies over to the bank and continued to pay irregularly over the next few years and was under the assumption that the matter had been resolved. It was only in 2007 that Ms Gundwana found to her horror that the sale in execution was indeed to take place.
After a further payment to the bank Ms Gundwana once again assumed that the matter was under control. In August the property was sold in execution to Steko Development and she continued to live on the property. It was only after an eviction order was granted that all these irregularities came to light. Through all the various hearings it was proven that her constitutional rights had also been trampled on by the courts through a lack of information and correct procedures.
After a series of appeals by all parties concerned the matter the judgment against Ms Gundwana will be rescinded. Ms Gundwana has been fortunate to have this decision changed and ruled in her favor but sadly many others have not been so lucky.
What has been uncovered during this is a veritable nightmare that consumers should be made aware of. Through an intervention by Consumer Guardian Services, a company that specializes in helping consumers through the tangle of legalities involved with sales in execution, it has also come to light that Ms Gundwana has been overcharged quite dramatically by the bank.
Apart from all of this, it has also come to light that there are a huge number of corrupt sheriffs who are appointed by the banks to execute the auctions on these properties. It would seem that the sheriffs are involved with crime syndicates to purchase these properties for knock down prices – some as low as 30% of the real value of said properties.
This practice was exposed by Noseweek in an article published in December last year. At last the Board of Sheriffs has been shaken out of its slumber and is now taking action against this odious practice. It is extremely sad that the plight of a poor woman is what it takes for the wheels of justice to finally turn but the hope is that by exposing banks that overcharge and rooting out corrupt sheriffs these same wheels will turn a bit faster in the future.
