FirstRand Bank loses R108,000 claim against Durban man after failing to count R114,000 repayment
Durban homeowner wins against FNB in R108,000 home loan dispute.
Image: Simphiwe Mbokazi/Independent Newspapers
The KwaZulu-Natal High Court has dismissed a claim by FirstRand Bank Limited against a Durban homeowner, ruling that the bank failed to properly account for a R114,000 payment made into his home loan account.
The court found that the bank failed to properly account for a substantial payment made into Rajendra Pillai's home loan account.
The bank had applied for a judgment of R108,000 and sought to have Pillai’s property declared executable, arguing that he had fallen into arrears on his home loan repayments.
According to the bank, Pillai had fallen into arrears on loans advanced to him in 2005 and 2006 for the purchase of the property.
Pillai, who represented himself throughout the proceedings, opposed the application on the basis that he had paid R114,000 into his home loan account in April 2018 — a payment he said was never properly accounted for by the bank. He maintained that, once this payment was taken into account, he was not in arrears.
While the bank initially criticised Pillai for failing to provide documentary proof of the alleged payment, the bank later conceded in its replying affidavit that the R114,000 payment had indeed been made. The bank claimed the amount was used to cover monthly instalments and administration costs after Pillai allegedly stopped making regular payments, and that it was eventually depleted.
However, the court found that the bank’s own account statements did not reflect either the receipt of the R114,000 payment or any monthly deductions against it. Judge Robin George Mossop noted that, based on the bank’s records, the outstanding balance on the bond account in December 2017 was approximately R81,000 — meaning the April 2018 payment should have fully settled the account.
The judge further criticised the bank for asserting that no further payments were made after April 2018, when the account statements showed at least 18 additional payments by Pillai between 2018 and 2023. Although these payments were irregular and often small, the court held that they could not simply be ignored.
"While the payments may not have been made in a regular and fixed amount, they were nonetheless made, and it is entirely unacceptable for the applicant (FNB) to state that they were never made,” Judge Mossop said, adding that this undermined the credibility of the bank’s case.
Given the unexplained handling of the R114,000 payment, the court concluded that the bank had failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that Pillai was in arrears. As a result, the bank’s application for judgment and execution against the property was dismissed.
The court granted Pillai’s counter-application, ordering the bank to provide him within two months with a full and accurate statement of account, supported by documents, showing how the R114,000 payment was applied and depleted.
The bank was also directed to formally debate the account with Pillai once the statement had been rendered.
Because Pillai conducted his own defence without legal representation, judge Mossop ruled that it would be fair for each party to bear its own costs.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
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