We’ve already seen that Absa and Standard Bank have plans afoot for (some of) their customers for financial relief during the current medical crisis. Now FNB has detailed its plan to keep their customers liquid during this trying time and it seems… pretty comprehensive.
Relief kicks in from 1 April this year and carries on until 30 June 2020 — the same three months other banking institutions are offering customers. What FNB offers to its clients is a little more detailed than we were expecting, however.
The devil’s in the details
In common with other banking institutions, FNB’s offering customers “who demonstrate sound banking behavior, such as having honoured their repayments to the bank on a consistent basis prior to COVID-19” the same instalment relief. That is, deferred or partial repayments for three months. The boilerplate back there? That mostly means that if you weren’t paying your accounts before, you won’t be permitted to take advantage of the current situation.
FNB’s also planning a preferential interest rate for the measures, won’t be charging extra bank fees for relief granted, will assist with credit insurance claims (if needed) and will also offer individual bridge facilities to those that require them. Interest and fees for services will continue as normal, and customers can find out more about the company’s COVID-19 relief via the dedicated icon being added to FNB’s app.
But wait, there’s more!
FNB’s also looking at ways to help customers who don’t qualify for assistance, along with the Banking Association of South Africa. It’s speeding up payments made to local suppliers and is also “…providing critical operational capacity …to help the healthcare system scale its response to COVID19, with a particular focus on testing equipment, protective clothing and ventilators for hospitals.”
FNB Connect customers will receive 1GB of free data in April. The company is waiving SpeedPoint rental fees for qualifying merchants, and is also working on a way for FNB customers to use any ATM without having to pay that absolutely mad fees banks charge if the ATM happens to have the wrong logo. That’s… yeah, that’s pretty comprehensive.
