Standard Bank offers three-month payment holiday

Standard Bank clients earning R7 500 or less will qualify for a three-month payment holiday on all personal account-related debt.

This means customers can hold off on paying home loans, car loans, other asset finance, short term loans, and credit cards for three months provided that they account are not in arrears as at 31 March 2020.

The bank said customers do not need to contact the bank to take up the offer, but customers can continue to pay their accounts too, as usual, should they not want to take up the offer.

The three-month instalment relief will be available on 1 April 2020 until end June 2020.

Customers need not contact the bank to initiate the offer, however, customers can continue to pay their accounts, as usual, should they not want to take upon the relief offer made by the bank.

Funeka Montjane, Chief Executive, Personal and Business Banking, Standard Bank South Africa, says they are “continuously looking for ways to provide the necessary assistance to our customers who have been impacted negatively by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Standard Bank is also collaborating with other government initiatives that have started to support small businesses and their employees.

The bank says qualifying employers and employees will also get relief from initiatives like the Solidarity Fund.

“We are committed to helping those who are vulnerable at this time. It is critical that we try to ease their financial burden and do what we can to prevent somebody from losing their home or having to close their business. We continue to work with the industry and regulators to ensure that we can solve some challenges systemically and we will play our part responsibly to support the government and the country,” says Montjane.

Furthermore, the banking sector has collectively decided to waive Saswitch fees during the lockdown. This means that a customer can use any ATM, including those offered by competing banks and only pay the usual fees charged.

Standard Bank says it will continue to evaluate the current financial climate with a keen focus on how the bank can continue to guide consumers through these difficult economic times.

“We will work tirelessly to find solutions that ease their financial burden in these times. We are here to help those who contribute to our society so that we can support economic growth in South Africa,” concluded Montjane.

This second round of relief comes after Standard Bank’s announcement last week that it would be instituting instalment relief for both SMEs and fulltime students who have taken out loans at the bank. The bank’s small enterprise clients with a turnover of less than R20 million were granted a three-month instalment relief on their business loan repayments. The latest instalment relief measure will further assist business owners who bank with Standard Bank in their personal and business capacity.

Customers who are in financial distress and not included in the three-month instalment relief offer, should contact the bank as soon as possible by email on  [email protected] or call us.