‘ I AM SCARED OF LOSING MY HOME ’
Bank says Molefe owes R15 000
A HEIDELBERG, Gauteng, pensioner has spent sleepless nights worrying after he received a letter of demand from Absa bank saying he owes R15 000.
Moya Molefe, 62, of Ratanda township, paid off his home loan after he received his retrenchment package from Rembrandt Van Rijn, a British-American tobacco company, in 1998.
He bought the house in 1988 for R45 000 and was financed through United Bank.
The grandfather of three said he paid his instalments of R471 – that included his home insurance premium – without fail until 1998, when he paid off the home loan.
Molefe, who is not literate, said his employer advised him to get a settlement amount from the financier of his house before they gave him a bank-guaranteed cheque to settle his balance of R19 516.
“I thought I had gained the total freedom of owning property when I paid the bank off,” said Molefe.
He had instructed the bank teller to cancel the bond and the home insurance that came with it.
But three months later he found that Absa was operating what used to be United Bank.
“I did not know where to go but hoped that nothing would happen to my house as the bond was paid off,” he said.
Molefe said he almost collapsed when the bank told him he needed to pay R15 000 for the insurance that Absa had kept running after he paid off his bond. He said Absa should have notified him that the insurance premium was not paid or it should have lapsed.
“If I had died, my children would have nothing to show as I still do not have my title deed although the house is paid up.”
He said he was grateful his late wife had kept all their payments in labelled envelopes and locked them up in their kist.
Molefe added that insurance agents he has spoken to told him insurance cover lapses when a consumer stops paying the premium for a certain number of months. He said 16 years was a long time.
He said on inquiry, Absa referred him to their Durban branch. Molefe said he cannot travel to Durban or spend money using his phone to sort out a problem Absa should have prevented.
“I am scared of losing my house and of being blacklisted for a debt I don ’ t know about, ” he said.
Zintle Litlaka of Absa said they needed more time to investigate Molefe ’ s case when Consumer Line inquired about the matter.
“Given how far back this issue goes and before the amalgamation of the banks, we would need a few days to go into the necessary archives and do a thorough investigation required for this,” Litlaka said two weeks ago.