More claims over WesBank's repo tactics

Wesbank CEO Chris de Kock misled the public when he claimed this week that the vehicle finance company only repossessed cars from clients who were more than a year in arrears.

WesBank customers who responded to the Sunday Times exposé last week about WesBank's heavy-handed repossession tactics labelled De Kock's claim "nonsense".

Additional documents seen by Sunday Times reporters showed that WesBank's former national tracing manager, Templeton Bonga, threatened to cancel the contracts of tracing companies that failed to meet the company's repossession targets.

In an e-mail sent on November 6 last year, he wrote: "The no trace reports [referring to cars that could not be located] that are coming from your companies are too high and leaves one with many questions as to whether ... we understand what is the purpose of your companies ... and the core function of a tracing business?"

In an earlier e-mail on Octo-ber 25 last year, he wrote: "It came as a shock to me that on the 15th of the month we still have companies with less than five repossessions in the stores ... If the companies are not prepared to deliver the desired results then we are going to move the accounts and give them to companies who are performing at required levels and giving us positive results."

One former tracer, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, claimed tracers were set monthly targets.

"We have been threatened that if we didn't perform, they would not give us any work. Tracers do what they have to do to try to meet targets," he said.

The original Sunday Times story revealed that WesBank agents bullied consumers into handing over their vehicles and, in some cases, repossessed vehicles without the sheriff of the court being present or even without a court order. In at least one case, a tracking device was fitted to a client's car without his knowledge.

Responding to the article, De Kock told Talk Radio 702 that the company only went to "these types of extremes" when customers had absconded, could not be traced or had outstanding arrears for "12, 18, 24 months".

"We're not talking about vehicles that are driven by average consumers who get themselves into financial difficulty and who might slip one or two or three payments in arrears," he said.

But Mbusi Miya, whose Honda Accord was repossessed last month, said this was simply untrue. He had fallen less than three months into arrears after losing his job. He provided the Sunday Times with proof.

"When I parked at Eastgate Mall, I was approached by these two gentlemen who said they wanted to repossess the car ... I alluded to them that this can only be done by the sheriff. But they said they were going to take the vehicle by force. I was intimidated. I didn't hand over the car willingly. What De Kock was saying isn't true. I wasn't trying to run away or anything," said Miya.

His is not the only case. Samantha Haupt, a mother of two, said she was intimidated by WesBank agents who repossessed her vehicle in August last year - when she was six months in arrears. She was going through a divorce at the time and her ex-husband had stopped paying the instalments. She was at her office when she was approached by the agents.

"I handed the vehicle over because I was embarrassed. They said if I don't hand it over they would get a tow truck to take my vehicle. They even threatened to follow me home if I didn't hand over the keys. They took my belongings and threw them out the car," she said.

Another WesBank client, whose name is known to the Sunday Times, said he was accosted by two WesBank agents at San Ridge Square, Midrand, in December.

"I told them that they could not take the vehicle as they did not have documents or a court order, nor were they sheriffs of the court. After a scuffle, one of these gentlemen pointed a gun at me. I proceeded to also draw my own firearm and they backed off," he said, adding that he was only two months in arrears. He has since cleared his arrears.

Last week, WesBank said none of its agents was armed.

WesBank spokesman Rudolf Mahoney said the bank would investigate these cases. He reiterated De Kock's statement that third-party tracing agents were only appointed "on a very small number of our accounts in cases of extreme delinquency, significant arrears, abscondence, alienation of goods or instances where we are unable to establish contact with the client".

Asked about Bonga's e-mails to tracing agents, Mahoney said: "The primary objective and main measurement of the tracing agencies, is to trace clients and to re-establish contact with them."