The short answer
You can submit a dispute of the deduction to SASSA
The whole question
Dear Grethen
There is a life insurance company that has been deducting money from my SASSA child grant, but I never consented to this. How can I stop this? Can I get my money back?
The long answer
This is an unfortunate and long-standing problem. GroundUp wrote about this issue in 2015, when some people said they had been struggling since 2013.
According to the SASSA grants website, "SASSA does not sell, support or endorse any products (such as loans and airtime) from financial service providers."
The website says to submit a dispute regarding the unauthorised deduction, follow these steps:
Send a text message (SMS) to Q-link on 34548 with the following details:
Topic: Dispute
Your ID number
Your full name and surname (as it is written on your ID document)
FSP Name: The company you are submitting a dispute against
Duration of the policy: How long the company/ policy has been deducting money from your account
Reason for dispute: I did not sign a contract/ misrepresentation
If you do not know the name of the company making the deduction, call SASSA's helpline: 0800 60 10 11.
SASSA warns that grant beneficiaries should not respond to any marketing messages or loans using their SASSA card.
It's unclear whether SASSA will pay you for the money that was illegally taken from you.
Wishing you the best,
Grethen
Answered on Sept. 7, 2023, 11:22 a.m.
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