Gogo gets happy news about house
Absa pays Mnisi R10 000 after investigation
Absa’s investigation into allegations that its client, Olga Mnisi, owed the bank money for a house she paid off 18 years ago has proven that she doesn’t owe the bank.
Instead, it turned out that the bank owed her R10 000.
Mnisi, of Dube in Soweto, approached Consumer Line in October after she failed to resolve the problem on her own.
She complained that Absa demanded R13 000 from her, even though she paid her house in full in 1998.
The 79-year-old pensioner said that when she retired, she asked her employer to use a portion of her pension fund to pay off her bond. Mnisi, who was a cleaner at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, said she assumed Absa would voluntarily release her bond certificate when they noticed the house was paid in full.
The bank, in the meantime, allowed her home insurance to continue, thereby causing unnecessary arrears on her account, she said.
Mnisi said that she remembered telling the teller to send her a confirmation letter to indicate that the bond was paid in full.
However, this was not done until Mnisi visited the bank in 2013.
“Most of my children have died, leaving me with the responsibility of raising nine of my grandchildren.”
She said that when she checked her files, she realised that she had not received a letter from Absa confirming that her bond had been settled, and that prompted her to visit the Absa branch at Gandhi Square in Johannesburg.
“I almost had a heart attack when Absa said I owed them R13000 for home insurance and that they would not release my title deed until that debt was paid off.”
Mnisi said the Absa official who assisted her did not inform her of the procedure to follow when a bond is paid in full and that the insurance would still be payable.
“They did not call or even send me letters indicating that I was in arrears on my home loan insurance,” Mnisi said.
She said insurance policies lapse if they are not paid for three months.
Absa refunded Mnisi R10 000 last Friday and have instructed their attorney to release her title deed, which she will get in three months
A thankful Mnisi said she will buy school uniforms for her grandchildren.
“My Christmas will be the happiest in years,” said the pensioner.