Equity Bank is on the spot following allegations of stealing cash from customers as well as poor customer services.
Kenyans have taken to social media to share stories about their experience with the giant financial institution, including incidents of money mysteriously disappearing from their accounts and being asked to pay loans they didn’t take.
A Facebook user identified as Lydia Mathia has shared a story about how the bank mishandled her father after cash was withdrawn from his account without his knowledge in addition to finding that he had taken a loan of Sh34,000.
Mathia says her dad discovered he could no longer use his Equitel pin in December, and decided to visit Equity Bank Limuru branch where he had opened the account. She says bank officials initially frustrated his effort to sort out issues with his account only to later realize he had an outstanding ‘loan.’
“Back and forth and they finally sort things out by renewing the SIM card. On getting home, dad got a message that he had an outstanding loan of Ksh34,000 and then notifications for repayment with a deadline of 27th Dec 2018 started coming through thick and fast,” says Ms. Mathia.
“He went back to the bank obviously emphatic that he had no such loan. The bank manager was exceptionally rude and literally mistreated my dad. There’s a bank form the manager was supposed to give for a complaint to be filled for escalation and action. The bank manager refused to give the form. Dad went there three times asking for that form, the manager threw him out telling him to go report to the police and bring the OB number. Dad did exactly that, he went and reported to the police and emailed the complaint and OB Number. The matter was assigned an incident report number by the bank,” she adds.
When the retired man received his December pension, the bank deducted Sh34,000 being payment of loan he had purportedly taken but “he continued to receive notifications for the balance”.
“Important to mention that it became apparent in the many visits paid to the bank that the money was withdrawn through another number. The guy actually withdrew 34K, checked balance, got a message that there was 300 remaining and withdrew 200 bob. It has also been established that Dad was on an active call at the time exact time the transaction was happening and at a very different location,” says Ms.
Mathia.
Following Ms. Mathia’s story, Kenyans online have come out to share similar stories. The bank is yet to issue a statement regarding the allegations
Kipchirchir CK says: “Banked with them for 3 years till 2016 but when I approached them for an overdraft they denied and talked rude just because I had another active account in KCB…I left forever. Now Kabarnet Equity branch ni mahame “
Sammy Muriuki notes: “That’s why I’m leaving Equity Bank Kenya. My mum was arrogantly handled by a customer care representative.”
“Staffs are very rude & serve one customer like 30mins & then go for tea break leaving the remaining customers stranded on the queue,” notes Lydia Otieno.
Joyce Gathumbi says: “My dad’s money was withdrawn… 180k and a loan of 40k on top. And instead of helping him to track it they keep telling him his loan is due.”
@MarvinGakunyi notes:” Someone should remind Equity Bank that OLX was once a giant that disappeared into oblivion.”
Mary Mahugu says: “Equity is full of rogue staffs who are robbing their clients like shepherds who eat the sheep. They will not survive for long if nothing is done about purging the lot.
Gitau S Regina swears: “I will never forgive Equity for stealing my ksh 6000 helb loan!Never!”
Left these guys about 3…
Left these guys about 3 years ago, when they started demanding sensitive data, insisting that it was a Fed government requirement. Clearly it wasn’t since there are institutions that did not insist on it. When I read this story, all I can say is no regrets. Would be in terror imagining what they would be doing with my funds and SS. And I still ask, how do people even withstand those long lines in their banking halls that seem to move at snail pace (whether you get to seat or not). Them being the second largest bank by assets does not seem to help their cause.
The allegation that “Staffs…
The allegation that “Staffs are very rude & serve one customer like 30mins & then go for tea break leaving the remaining customers stranded on the queue,” is ENOUGH to call them very Stupid. The Staff is very STUPID!!! to say the Least if this is True.
My recollection of Equity…
My recollection of Equity bank is non-moving lines, lack of air. If they know their service is slow why not have fans to keep the air moving at least? Their attempt to hoard my money finally did it.Ati “pesa hazijafika” I had a confirmation from the routing bank in New York it had dispatched the money and the bank manager had the audacity to tell me her lies dismissing me while paying attention to her relative with whom they were discussing some cow profits. I told her I was not leaving her office until the money was in my account. And it happened. Wajinga hawa watu.
Surely, at the beginning,…
Surely, at the beginning, Equity Bank was like a newly married young lady. But, today, something is wrong! Something is really wrong; in short, it is wrong to think that the climax of something is eternal. Please, Equity Bank officials correct the anomaly instead of taking your last breath. With all due respect to you, don’t just focus on where you are; try to focus on where you came from, where you are, and where we can go as one family.
Sue them. I believe there…
Sue them. I believe there are many lawyers waiting for an opportunity to face off with these institutions.
Curious question: Why has…
Curious question: Why has this Story come out after the Equity founder Mwangi passed away recently?
worked for this hell of a…
worked for this hell of a bank for two years and left for greener pastures I don’t even regret one single bit, they do not take care of their employees and are not strategic in dealing with those extremely long queues. You work like a donkey with little pay and they only care about their profits and not the service they offer to their customers or the well being of their employees. the turnover rate was crazy but what do you expect!!
I have always Prayed and…
I have always Prayed and looked forward to Equity bank coming to its SENSES. I think this is the Time.?
I wired $ 20,000 from US…
I wired $ 20,000 from US bank to my friend’s equity bank account, Nairobi. My friend who lives in US had traveled home a month prior to do a project. Equity Bank withheld the cash for 3 months for no legal apparent reason and it took a legal process initiation and the intervention that we were able to get the money back. Come to figure out after doing account’s forensics that some manager within the bank was using the money in the mean time for personal use. Too bad the kenya’s judicial system is too slow, ineffective and frustrating, we were thirsty for the manager’s blood! EQUITY is synonymous to THEFT.
This is the most ridiculous…
This is the most ridiculous bank. I am glad I just used up all the money and closing the account soon. I once went with family to deposit about 10K and it was the most painful process. It took 30 minutes to do the transaction with embarrassing questions such as where did you get your money? Why are you depositing the money? The guy had to make multiple phone calls before he would complete the transaction. I felt like asking him to return our money but I held my tongue.
On a different occasion, I went to one of their ATMs to withdraw Kshs. 3,000. After I entered my pin code and waiting for the money to come out all I could hear was the noise behind the ATM counting cash then it stopped and no money came out. I was surprised to get a receipt showing that I withdrew Ksh.3,000 and no cash. I quickly proceeded to the counter. I left a friend had to stand by the atm in case someone else came to withdraw after me. I explained what happened and the teller said she was going to call her manager. The manager came and made me fill out a form. Then he went to check the atm and brought me Ksh. 1,000, “may be the rest was taken away by the person after you”. He handed me the money. I tried to explain that there was someone standing by the ATM watching but that did not help. Ridiculous!
Maybe Equity expanded too…
Maybe Equity expanded too fast, too soon. Personally that relationship they have with Mpesa kiosks that you can give Mpesa a guy your acct and deposit money via that kiosk to your account makes eerily scared.
There are so many loose ends in that bank -lack of proper internal controls…..Equity need to tighten that even though you can’t really eliminate employee collusion but at least lessen the chances…
The Kenya government (of…
The Kenya government (of Kibaki era) used Taxpayers’ money to Fast track Equity bank’s growth. This was Professional CORRUPTION at it’s best.
They forgot who pays their…
They forgot who pays their bills, so as a customer you are the boss, so do what you should do with an employee who is not doing what you hired them to do. Just fire them, if enough people start leaving the bank might finally get it that the customer should be treated with respect. If money is missing in the account, get police involved, this has to stop.
Do not forget Equity bank is…
Do not forget Equity bank is one of the bank involved in the mega scandals. It helps the crooks to move money.
Living up to its history;…
Living up to its history; before it was a household name equity was an entity with a history that is worth remembering or reading about.
This is so crazy am reading…
This is so crazy am reading this i cant believe it.I transfered $10,000 to my brothers Dollar account and they cashed him KSHS. i tried calling them am so upset. why did they cash money from dollar account and how? with whose permission?
Equity Bank is a BIG THIEF,…
Equity Bank is a BIG THIEF,
I have gone through this banks security to find my money that was withdrawn without my authorization for a year. They located the accounts that the money was deposited but claims they are unable to return the money without police report. What a terrible bank. The leaders are out of reach, their staff cannot believe what they see every day. Keep out of Equity Bank at all cost dear ones.
Mwizi ni mwizi! Hana jina…
Mwizi ni mwizi! Hana jina lingine. Companies like these heavily benefited from Jubilee being in power and got away with a lot. And they sure as hell know that they will be going down, when Jubilee is out. Some things are inevitable. Watu waanze kujipanga. And this is just round one of their expose.
Whatever they are being…
Whatever they are being accused of, is quite serious. That said, there was a time banking services were difficult to get for the low income and diaspora Kenyan. Equity answered the call and other banks played catch up for a while. I use them for my day to day business banking needs but have been quite lucky at Stanbic Bank when I need more personal service.
Is James Mwangi, Equity CEO…
Is James Mwangi, Equity CEO reading this? Somebody should tell him to read Mwakilishi.
Fourteen years ago I made a…
Fourteen years ago I made a series of wire transfers to repay a loan but none of it was being credited, all the while interest was being charged. I got no response from my enquiries but the day I personally turned up, having flown all the way from US, a surprised and grinning manager, immediately put the accounts in order while stammering some bullshit excuses. I closed the account there and then. I rejoined Equity later and so far have had no issues with them, but it’s useful to maintain a regular and frequent check on your accounts. It’s a young bank that has probably outgrown itself and hopefully it will get better with time.
Equity ni bank ya ujinga…
Equity ni bank ya ujinga. For the sake of sanity, toka huko
Today I leave equity forever…
Today I leave equity forever. They withdraw 17k from my account and yhey cannot explain.
I’m writing this after the…
I’m writing this after the recent story of an old lady who lost cash at equity. She lost close to a million.The main problem with Equity Bank is low pay. It pays its employees poorly compared to other banks of its size. Many employees feel exploited and are not loyal to the bank. This explains why they result to raiding customer accounts like the scavengers their employer has made them to be. It’s a bank that has thrived on exploitation.They pay very little to the workers in order to make HUGE profits. Corporate greed at its ugliest.
8 transactions total 158,000…
8 transactions total 158,000 ksh has been withdrawn from my bank account 12 am and when I realized 30 minutes later the customer care says it’s online transaction I have to visit bank and fill dispute form.
I tell the lady to put s flag in the transactions and she says she cannot do so till the following day I go fill a form.
Equity Bank we cannot keep losing money with this tough economy