Absa pays back the money

Kgosi Koboto demands further compensation Following the publication of his story ‘Absa-lutely Broke’ (The Voice 26 June), in which Letloreng Headman, Lekang Koboto accused Absa of turning him into a pauper through an administrative blunder, the bank moved swiftly to correct their mistake. In an emotional interview with The Voice at his house in the Tswapong village of Letloreng, 54-year-old Kgosi Koboto explained he went out to apply for a quick loan from Express Credit back in March. At the time he had a running loan with Barclays (now Absa) which stood at P55, 300, which Express Credit had to consolidate. Express Credit requested a settlement letter, which Absa duly provided and the P55, 300 was credited into a bank account provided in Absa’s settlement letter. To Koboto’s shock, at the end of the month Absa withdrew the P1, 874 installment from his salary, while Express Credit also deducted P2, 400. “I was now servicing two loans at a go and was defaulting on my other important policies,” said Koboto. Despite his repeated attempts to have Absa rectify what he believed was an honest mistake, the chief claims he was ignored and left broke for four months. “I called Express Credit who assured me that the P55, 300 was credited into a bank account provided in Barclays’ settlement letter. It came to our attention that the account number provided by the bank was not mine. In fact it belongs to another headman in a different village,” he said. Express Credit Customer Service Manager, Sylvia Anderson put the blame squarely on Absa, stating that her company had gone beyond in assisting Koboto and the issue remained with the bank to resolve. And resolved it was. This week an elated Kgosi Koboto revealed to The Voice that after his story was published, someone from the bank immediately called him and apologized profusely for the mistake. “They cancelled the loan and reimbursed all the money they had deducted!” he said. Koboto said although he was happy that finally his dignity had been restored as he was now able to feed his family and put fuel in his car, he still felt the bank needed to pay him extra for the stress they caused. “I wrote to them and demanded P40, 000 more as compensation for the costs I incurred for the four months they left me penniless,” he said. The traditional leader added that the Bank was yet to respond to his letter of demand. “I’m used to being ignored by Absa. Remember they ignored me for four months until The Voice wrote about this!” he said, adding he hopes his latest story will provoke a similar positive reaction.

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Absa pays back the money

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