ABSA bank's Help You Sell program; fact or fiction?

What is the worst possible thing that can happen to you?  

Depending on your value system, there could be many answers.  
I rate losing a child pretty high, but i would imagine in my social sphere and educational standard, most people would be, and are horrified at the prospect of having their home taken away by "the bank".
As destiny would have it, i seem to have allotted in my pre existance state, (must have been under the influence of something) to undergo this experience as well, (as if the other traumas haven't been enough), so i figured after checking on GOOGLE for advise, and finding there wasn't any! That this would be an opportunity to blog about my experience, and hopefully help others going through a similar experience, to not be taken advantage of any more that they already are being, with South Africa having the highest bank fees and interest rates in the world.

So, i apologise for my late start, but life is busy as you know, and quite honestly i don't believe in dwelling in the negative, have no time for incompetence, so the things i have had to endure so far, were not something i felt too compelled to share.  
However, for the sake of the greater good, i will journal my journey:) in the hope it may help someone else.  God help us that this is the only information available on the internet for you lost souls being bullied by FNB or frightened by the other banking powers that be.  Sometimes I am sorry i chose to live in a third world country (are we still classed as that or is South Africa different? Oh dear more stuff to google..)

On to business...Funnily enough today i saw the Estate Agent who caused me through her ignorance, greed or indifference not sure which, or all of the above probably, to lose my precious dream house, which i had designed and built myself, for my kids to grow up in.  She has started her own franchise now in Durbanville; i personally don't have much faith in business's grown on other people's pain/loss.

What i learned that i want to pass onto you is this!  When the bank starts threatening you, don't stress, the process of repossessing your home takes months.. i don't know the details now, but you can google it.  I was forced into taking the first Low offer i got, R400,000 below market value 7yrs ago, because i did not know i HAD MORE TIME, the agent was too hungry to get her commission and next house to sell from the buyer by getting him a low price; totally unethical as she is Supposed to work for the seller, but hey, money talks doesn't it, and i still in my naivete payed her the full commission she had demanded i thought unnecessarily on my first meeting with her.  That's another story but DON'T pay agents the full commission if they don't get you the full price!! No one knows or thinks of this and the public gets ripped off!  Everything should be just and fair, i'm not talking about a R50,000 difference because we all know that is expected, i'm referring to cases like mine where the offer they bring you is ridiculous compared to THEIR valuation.
Back to ABSA's quick sale program, a representative from the bank, very Afrikaans speaking, and not too clued up, told me i had to come and see him to sign some documents, as my bond had been in arrears for quite a while, and although the bank was legally supposed to give me a lower interest rate through my debt counsellors to help me out, (how hard can it be, i'm only asking for the same consideration the whole of the rest of the civilised world gets; ie. interest rates at 1% whoopee!) The bank had apparently refused to do this in court, and then some law changed and said we have to at least pay the interest, which is the problem in the first place, and i couldn't do that, so had to go off debt couselling, which could no longer protect me, ie. had become useless, and i was now at the mercy of the banks completely snowed under and clueless repossessions or whatever they call it departments.
Basically the blackmail sorry, deal they give is that if you sign the documents, (which you do not even receive a copy of, very unprofessional, or is it shady?) then when the property sells they will write off 20% of the outstanding loan.  Whereas if you try to sell it, and it goes to auction (where typically you will be lucky to get 50% of the value), you will be liable for the whole outstanding amount.  So in other words, you have no choice, unless your bond is low.  
So i signed the documents, made them promise it would not go on auction, which they did, though they could not put it in writing which of course made it useless, i will say ABSA is just awesome, cause as yet it has been a long time, and no talk of auctions yet :)

Speaking of auctions the Vultures of the real estate industry, i met one (auctioneer) at a party, and he said i was an absolute idiot to sign the papers with the bank, but of course being privy to the inside world of these things, was never able to articulate to me why that was, or give any sound advise as to a better option...Just said with an evil grin he would look out for my property on auction, in true Vulture style.  Yep, i was right about those guys.

Good thing:  When the bank contacted the Estate Agents they actually seemed to take it seriously, and contacted me, and were interested to sell my property, unlike when i contacted them and never heard from them again the last 3yrs, however in hindsight, not one of them has been in contact since, my only interest coming from the fraudulent site myroof.co.za.

Interestingly the bank supplied all the agents with the incorrect info about the property, wrong price, type of property etc.  I found it interesting that the bank does not have accurate records of what they have loaned money for.
As agents phoned to "make an appointment to see the property/house"  I rudely informed them that it is a vacant plot and they can take a drive past any time they want to!
Then driving me crazy, twice in the last six months or so, i have been phoned by companies wanting to do a "valuation" on the property for ABSA bank, i sarcastically informed them that the price is the same as it has been the last 5 years and they can see this price on the website for the development, where the plots have been for sale for the last 5 years.

On my journey i have uncovered a scam, getting many offers from the site myroof.co.za where the plot is listed as having an offer pending of R540,000 i think it is, an offer i know nothing about.  
One gentleman phoned to tell me he was about to pay his deposit on the plot, so i quickly warned him not to have any further interaction with the aforesaid site, and he was so grateful not to have lost his money on false information.  Angry, i then did further research and found many people on hellopeter.com who had similar bad experiences with this website.  It was also reported at a meeting held by the EAAB in Cape Town a few months ago, as Agents said their offers submitted for clients to the site had been ignored, and they could not get in contact with anyone there.  I have subsequently reported them to the fraud hotlines, but sadly for the general public the site is still up and running.  Where is the protection for the public we are promised by our CPA and law enforcement?

As of today, this is where things stand, my bond continues to rise every month as more interest is added, and no standard offers have been forthcoming.  
I recently received a call from "an agent" who said he had a client interested from the ABSA website where the property is listed for R650,000.  This is the first i hear of this.  In an age of technology, is is too much for ABSA to inform me of their decisions and price they are asking on a property that i own?  Not acceptable business practice, and shows again that we are just pawns in the bankers games.  Their lack of disclosure and communication will come back to bite them, we are people not numbers on their balance sheet.  

Till next time, stay strong people, know your rights, i pray for a successful outcome for my and your difficulties.  Miracles can and do happen.  I will be in this process until i have learned all i need to in order to help others in future. If you know of any info that i am not aware of, let me know, so we can share the knowledge to make the process of loss more bearable for all.
Your friend in property.

P.S.  I wrote this in pink so you may feel a little loved at least while reading this blog, as you sure wont be getting that from the banks and agents!