First National Bank South Africa Reviews 

I am extremely disappointed in the service I received fromFNB Insurance.
I sold my car on31 October 2025and immediately sent FNB the documents for my new vehicle, requesting that my insurance be transferred. I accepted the new quote, sent inspection photos, and assumed everything was correctly processed.
Two months later, when I needed to claim, I discovered that my new vehicle wasnever insured— instead, FNB had been deducting premiums for acompletely unknown vehicle. When I asked for the inspection photos of the car they were charging me for, they could not provide any.
After multiple emails and calls, I received almost no help, was told I haveno insurance, and dealt withrude consultants who could not explain anything. Imagine paying for months — even years — for insurance you don't actually have!
This experience has left me with no trust in FNB.
As a result, my husband and I will bemoving all accounts, investments, and insurance to Standard Bankin January 2026.
Other customers should check their policies carefully — this should never happen to anyone else.

Debit order bounced while there was money to cover it. An hour later on the phone and the online banking service, ended up at the branch. 6 people later on the call centre....promises to reverse the penalty fee....but it takes 3-4 business days. 2 hours of my day wasted.

Online system supposedly the most advanced, but be sure it will let you down during the most crucial times; employees are furious for not receiving salaries in time at regular intervals, admin staff are frustrated beyond themselves, especially at month end when system crash and have to work Friday night / Saterday / Saterday night to try and resolve payments towards suppliers and employees. FNB so often "have such a lot of business and is so huge with so many satified clients who prefer our services, that our system crashes frequently !" Whow ! Been happening for the past few years and only getting worse. Check out the comments of mid and lower income classes on Black Friday; today.
Sorry dear FNB cliënt, you will not be able to make use of discount prices, this year again ... "Sorry for the inconvenience"
Myself being manager and owner of a business, find FNB's service most challenging regarding turnover and profit. 1 Star rating maybe even generous. Me and finacial staff still trying to get access; not been able to setup any payments for the day or night; 23:15 Friday Night 28 November 2025

I have been an FNB Business customer for a couple of years, but my experience since March 2025 has been extremely disappointing. My online banking, FNB App access, and OTP functionality stopped working earlier this year. As a result, I have been unable to transact, unable to access my own money, and unable to operate my small business effectively.

Despite sending multiple emails, calling the contact centre numerous times, completing forms more than once, and even receiving a response from a Service Recovery Manager (Shiraaj Buziek) acknowledging the issue, nothing has been resolved. The business banker assigned to me (Graham Kotze) was equally helpless. Every time I follow up, I am told to call the call centre again, which only puts me back into the same cycle of no assistance and no progress.
All that needs to be done is extremely simple:
either restore my South African mobile number on the system, or correct my UK number, which was captured incorrectly by FNB.
This has been communicated repeatedly, yet the issue continues after almost a year.
The lack of urgency, accountability, and follow-through from FNB is shocking , especially towards a small-business client whose operations depend on access to online banking. I expected significantly better from a major bank. Instead, I have experienced inefficiency, poor communication, and no real effort to resolve the issue permanently.
I am posting this review because I have exhausted all internal channels, and I believe customers deserve to know the realities of FNB’s service. I sincerely hope someone senior at FNB finally intervenes and addresses this unacceptable delay.

FNB Credit Card - Disgusting service. Email received requetsing contact FNB the number suppplied is not valid. Called 4 people over 2 weeks everytime its well send the information through, no response. Called 8 people today no one has a clue what is going on and send you from deprtment to department. No answers, no service. Fnb are happy for you to be shoved arround after claiming you dont exist when Ive benaked there for over 40 years.

FNB closed my accounts and then drew fees on them for months. Now they won’t let me reopen the accounts. Basically they cut off my access to the money and just take monthly without giving me the option to reopen the account. Blatant theft, avoid this bank at all costs.

What is wrong with FNB customer services and calls it is now terrible.

The online customer service is so time consuming in 1hr and 35 i was given 4 Agents every time it said the call disconnected you are being rerouted and a notice this agent will be with you shortly nice excuses but issue not handled satisfactory. .

I contacted First National Bank to query the allocation of my reward points. The agent informed me that I did not receive my points because my credit card was considered inactive for October 2025. I explained that the card’s expiry date is listed as 10/25, which means it should only expire at the end of October, not the beginning. I requested that the matter be escalated to a supervisor or manager, but the agent abruptly ended the session.

I have a non resident bank account in SA, which I use for some expenses, as I come often. In October I wired some money from Italy. As I could not see it, after a few days I contacted FNB. I was told that it was sent back because my KYC status was N instead of Y. I fixed it, but I sent a complaint, as nobody notified me and I lost about 95 euros in commissions. I received an instulting response, telling me that everything was now ok. No mention of my loss. I wired again money on the 5th of November. It shows as balance, but not available. I called last week on Wednesday. I was told that I needed to send the receipt of the wire showing my name and the amount in both currencies. I was told after that it would have been released quicly. 5 days later I am still waiting. I wrote three times, no answer. On Friday I asked my accomodation to send me 4000 rand, as today I am supposed to pay for my car insurance. I was asked for a proof of source of funding and again the amount is not available. On Saturday I went in person to FNB. After probably 5 phonecall, the person there could not do anything better to suggest me to write a complaint, assuring me that someone would have called me. It did not happen. The money is still not available. Today I am going to lose my car insurance. I have an account that it is totally useless, as it is impossible to put any money in it. This is not a bank, this is a black hole, both for money and messages.

USELESS! Antonny on live chat tells me to go into a branch whilst on live chat, only because your app is not allowing me to download my confirmation letter. Me and all my clients will be going elsewhere.

What happens when we do complain? I have complained to FNB directly and nothing is done about the way their consultants deliberately refuse to help with not knowing they have very minimal customer experience very arrogant yet its our money we enquiring about? Why is FNB holding so many people's money and make us feel obligated to them yet it's out very own money 🤔 Your consultants do not know how to speak to anyone they don't have correct information to assist making the customers not even want to bank with FNB very very very poor customer service and helping with transactions. How is FNB not able to do a thing when a debicheck mandate was fraudulently placed on my FNB account and FNB can't do anything about it yet I emailed and begged for 2 months even when the attempts was rejected I was told i had to wait for the money to leave my account before they can help another false promise just to get me off the phone I had to pay those rejected debits FNB refuses to assist 😢 and when this company finally debits me it's blocked from FNB to reverse this yet fnb told me to wait for the debit first before they can assist and now I had to close that account and guess what they refuse to close it until I pay the bank charges Like what's really happening where are all our WOKE people FNB cannot continue and get away with this these companies call us pretending to be FNB the attitudes of your consultants is appalling especially when they lack the information needed to assist How many older people are being robbed of their monies and FNB gives a fk I am so disappointed and disgusted with FNB I am praying another bank can deal with Forex so FNB can be left without customers and then understand and teach accordingly.

Fnb your system are outdated and does not reflect real time transactions, I Opened a business account and could not get a statment because it's not a month old, We as business owners cannot wait a month if tenders need to be submitted.This is a joke bank looks good on paper but nothing can be done to print a simple account statment also bank staff uninformed about how to create different profiles for business under one Pty company. Pathetic I was at Metlife branch port elizabeth. CONSULTANT really tried her best but she can only do so much with her system access and what your system can do.

I’ve never encountered a bank that charges for digital transactions that cost them nothing to process. They even charge for Apple Watch transactions, yet claim to offer world-class service. In most countries, banks are moving toward zero transaction fees because everything is automated and computerized—no one is manually processing these payments. Charging customers for digital transactions in this era is outdated and unjustified.

I have indicated that I am hard of hearing and that all correspondence to me should be done via e-mail - I even have an e-mail saying that this note has been added to my profile - yet they keep phoning on a weekly basis (probably to market something or other to me).

Had legal aid with them, but after asking for the procedure to organise a will twice with zero response I cancelled that.

Also worth mentioning is that I have repeatedly indicated I have no interest in downloading a banking app (I do not think they are safe) yet they keep trying to push me to install it by hiding more and more previously online features on the app.

Very disappointed with fnb as I have incounted issues with my account recently. The secure chat line not helpful at all. As a consumer I still don't understand their explanations as to why the sudden charges,my account is currently in a minus and the explanation that they giving does not add up, how can you do a purchase on the2nd of October and be charged for that very same purchase on the 19th October that just doesn't add up. Issue still not resolved.

I am extremely upset with FNB Bank and want to share my bad experience. On October 4, 2025, a client sent me a payment of R8,800 into my account. The bank later said this money came from disputed sources, which I had no way of knowing about. They withheld the R8,800, and that's not all – they also froze my other funds, about R230,000, even though those funds were from my own work and had nothing to do with the disputed payment.

This feels very unfair. Why should I be punished for something I cannot control? I did not choose the source of that payment, and I even sent an email to return the funds, but I have not gotten any reply. My account is still blocked, and I cannot access my money, including the R230,000 that is not related to the R8,800. Can someone from FNB explain this to me? What does my other money have to do with a payment I did not even know was from a bad source?

My case number is 2025-3294830, and you can reach me at +263782878105 if anyone wants to discuss this. I have been waiting for help, but no one has responded. This has caused me a lot of stress and problems in my life.

I strongly advise everyone not to deposit large amounts of money into FNB. They might freeze your account without clear reasons, and you could lose access to your hard-earned money. Stay away from this bank – it's not worth the risk!

I am extremely frustrated with the poor service I’ve received from FNB Connect. I’ve been trying to port my number back to MTN – my original service provider – but FNB keeps giving me the runaround. Every time I contact FNB, they claim the problem lies with MTN. When I contact MTN, they say it’s FNB's responsibility. I’ve gone into FNB branches and called multiple times, but still no resolution.

I do not owe FNB anything, yet they are refusing or failing to release my number. On top of that, I can’t even send an SMS using my current SIM. This back-and-forth has gone on for far too long with zero accountability from either side.

The lack of support, follow-through, and responsibility from FNB is unacceptable. I’m tired of this poor service and just want my number ported back to MTN as it should have been long ago.

Sort this out!

Worst bank by far, old and bad exactly the same as the ANC, I don’t bank with them but I sometimes come across people who use them and it’s a struggle sending and receiving money even my international transaction are a bummer.

FNB customer service is absolutely terrible. I have been trying to get a settlement letter from them for days now, with no joy! When you phone they just keep putting in another request saying it will take 24 to 48 hours, its been four days now. This is why I left FNB, the customer experience is so unpleasant!