Fraud victim to have her name cleared

11 July 2004 - City Press

Standard Bank has agreed to clear Vivian Masuku's name after it incorrectly took a default judgement against her for a debt of R240 000.

On checking her credit worthiness, Vodacom found that Standard Bank had applied for and won a default judgement against her. Vodacom then declined her application for a two year contract.

Masuku said she was shocked because she did not have a mortgage loan with Standard.

She wrote to Standard Bank's head office in Johannesburg to state her case, but made no progress.

Masuku said she wanted to open a fraud case against the perpetrator, but could not do so because there was no co-operation from the bank.

They were told her "account" was handed over for judgement because she was in arrears.

Masuku said the loan fraud took place after "someone" used her ID document bearing her maiden name.

"Nobody detected this. Surely you do not need to be a genius to figure this one out. Even their bank legal department has not offered any help," Masuku said.

She later opened a fraud case at Wonderboom police station in Pretoria. Upon investigation, it was discovered that her ID was fraudulently used to open a Standard Bank home loan account.

Though the culprit has been arrested, Masuku's credit record has been tarnished.

"Surely if Standard Bank can publicly claim that they make banking simpler, they must go through a serious checklist before any approval for this kind of cash is made."

Masuku's nightmare will end in a few weeks, according to Standard Bank's spokesperson Erik Larsen.

He said Standard Bank had applied for the default judgement against Masuku to be rescinded and, once this was done, the bank would ensure that her name is cleared with the credit bureaus. 

Larsen said "a person" used a fraudulent identification number belonging to Masuku to obtain a home loan from Standard Bank.

"When this person failed to make any payments on the loan, the bank took judgement against the person. The judgement and listing with the credit bureaus were based on the person's identification number, which is that of Masuku, and we therefore unfortunately took judgement against the wrong person," said Larsen, adding that Standard Bank would like to apologise to Masuku for "this most unfortunate incident".

Bruce Manuel, the community marketing officer of the ombudsman's for banking services, said the ombudsman's office is dedicated to providing banks and their customers with quick and efficient dispute-resolution service. Its mandate is to improve general banking practice in a fair, impartial and confidential way.

Before bank customers can complain to the ombudsman's office they must have first complained to their bank branch. If unhappy with the outcome, then they can approach the ombudsman.

Manuel added that the complaint-resolution process should not take longer than 20 working days.

With regard to complaints for unfair property evictions, if the bank has obtained a judgement against a client, the matter is then outside the ombudsman's jurisdiction.

"We will only intervene if there is clear evidence of serious maladministration or negligence," said Manuel.

Generally the banks must show that:

1. The account was in arrears or poorly conducted.
2. Notification was sent to the mortgager indicating the status of the account.
3. No arrangements were made to settle the debt, or the arrangements were unsuitable; or the client did not comply with the arrangements.
4. Due legal process was followed in that summons was served, a judgement obtained, the property attached and repossessed by the bank and sold in execution.