Don’t bank on better value from fees

late last year. In previous years, you would have receives a comprehensive guide, detailing the fee structures applicable to all accounts offered by your bank – from those aimed at students to those aimed at seniors, and every type of account in between. But the three banks that have recently announced new fees have given customers details relating to their accounts only. So if you want to compare the fees on other accounts offered by your bank, you’ll have to visit the bank’s website for the information.

If you’re in the high end of the middle-income bracket and require an overdraft and credit card, and you do a large number of transactions in a month, the accounts aimed at you are Absa’s Platinum Value Bundle, FNB’s Platinum Cheque Bundle, Nedbank’s Savvy Bundle and Standard Bank’s Prestige Plus.

The three banks have not increased the monthly fee on these accounts this year, but their offerings have changed slightly.

HOW TO COMPARE

When comparing accounts, you need to look at price and features. Absa’s Platinum Value Bundle costs R149 a month, Nedbank’s Savvy Bundle R169 a month, Standard Bank’s Prestige Plus R179 a month and FNB’s Platinum Cheque Bundle R199 a month.

The table on the right shows the main features of bundled accounts for higher middle-market earners. However, the banks’ offerings also differ in other respects. For example, Absa offers its value bundle customers a rebate on charges on products such as vehicle finance and spouses’ accounts. And Nedbank’s Savvy Bundle fee includes a subscription to its rewards programme, but Standard Bank’s Prestige Plus doesn’t.

Nedbank’s fee schedule is the most comprehensive of the three banks applying the new fee structures. The schedules provided by Absa and Standard Bank show only the transactions that are included in the monthly fee, but Nedbank’s lists the transactions that are excluded and that attract fees.

Moira Sharp, the product specialist manager of price and analytics at Nedbank, says there have been no changes to Nedbank’s Savvy Bundle Account, which is “a true all-in-one” bundle of products – a cheque account with access to both a credit card and overdraft facility at no extra cost.

Arrie Rautenbach, the chief executive of Barclays Africa Retail Banking, says that the fee increase for Absa customers who have not yet migrated to a “relevant value bundle option” will be about six percent from January 1. He says that all the bank’s value bundles offer incentives, especially to Absa customers who use the bank for all their banking.

Sugendhree Reddy, the head of personal banking at Standard Bank, says Standard Bank has “kept to a minimum” the price increases on personal transactional accounts. Growing numbers of customers have migrated to self-service banking channels and mobile payment offerings, resulting in significant cost savings for customers.