For five months, Capitec Bank has not been able to explain why a Gauteng businessman can’t access R13,200 in his account.
Romeo Matjila has been at loggerheads with the bank after it failed to refund him a R13,218 deposit for hiring a car at Avis in Krugersdorp, on the West Rand, in September.
Matjila had hired the car for his month-long mayoral campaign in Potchefstroom, North West.
“When I got to Avis, I had to pay a certain amount for the actual booking and an extra R13,000 deposit,” Matjila told Sowetan Consumer.
“Avis had reserved money in my account and told me that I’d get it within 30 days after I’ve returned their car. I knew all of this from my previous interaction with the company. However, I started to get worried and panicked when I couldn’t get the money back after the 30 days had lapsed. I have a window cleaning company and my family and I had already made plans to pay for certain things with my deposit. I could see the money in my bank account but I had no access to it,” said Matjila.
According to his contract which Sowetan Consumer has seen, Avis held the money temporarily.
“This is a temporary hold against the funds you have available on that card. We do not charge your card and no money is taken from your account. Your bank will usually present this authorisation hold as a pending transaction that reduces the money you have available to spend. This might appear to be a debit on your statement but it is not,” it read.
Matjila then approached Avis in November and he was shown evidence that the company had released the money. On November 23, Capitec sent him an SMS showing that the money had been deposited into his account.
Sowetan Consumer has seen the message, including this month’s bank statement which reflects the money in his account.
He started making inquiries with Capitec in December and in one of their responses, a client care service agent said on December 28 that the matter was being investigated.
Sowetan has seen other emails from the bank to Matjila saying the issue is being “escalated”.
Sowetan approached Capitec for comment last week, Najmiyyah Samaai from the bank said: “We hereby advise that in terms of s134 of the National Credit Act read together with Circular No 02 of 2021, an Alternative Dispute Resolution agent is precluded from resolving a dispute relating to a financial institution as defined in the Financial Services Ombud Schemes Act. Considering the foregoing, we hereby decline your request [to comment]. Please have the client contact us directly on the Client Care call centre… Kindly be advised we may not disclose any information of our client to a third party without a subpoena or court order.”
Matjila said he has not impressed by the delays.
“I run a business and I have not been able to pay my R6,000 rent for two months. That money would have easily covered that.”
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