HOW TO SAVE ON BANK FEES

There are some simple ways to cut down your bank charges. Paul Joubert, a senior researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute, offers the following tips:

Know your banking habits. If you don’t know off the top of your head how many debit orders you have, or how many cash withdrawals you make in a month, analyse your past few bank statements. Understanding your banking habits is the key to knowing what kind of account you should have.

Know which exact account you have and compare it with the other accounts on offer at your bank. “You might be able to save on bank charges by switching to an account that could be more suitable or cost-effective.” Joubert says that when he speaks to consumers, many don’t realise that their bank offers different types of current accounts, let alone all of the features of their existing account.

Avoid using the ATMs of other banks. It will cost you dearly streamlining of its product offering, she says.

The average cost of a Capitec account decreased slightly by 0.5 percent over the past year as a result of a three-cent decrease in the cost of SMS notifications. “The bank is still ranked the cheapest in this comparison, even though the interest of 4.25 percent to five percent it pays on a running balance was left out of the calculation,” the report says.

The cost of FNB’s Smart Unlimited account remained unchanged, with its average monthly cost of R53.20, the report says. “This amount differs from the ‘ fixed’ monthly fee of R49 that is advertised, because of the additional cost of SMS notifications to beneficiaries to whom money is transferred.”

The same applies to Absa and Standard Bank.

Watch out for the cost to you of sending an SMS notification when (see “Cost of withdrawals” table, below), “unless you’re a Capitec client – in which case you pay a flat fee of R7 irrespective of the amount that you withdraw”, Joubert says.

Avoid using cheques. “This is worth emphasising, because some banks are loading the cost of using cheques to dissuade consumers from using them, in favour of digital channels,” Joubert says.

Avoid making over-thecounter deposits. On an Absa current account, for example, an over-the-counter deposit of R100 will cost you R7.20 (R5.95 plus R1.25 per R100).

Joubert says that if you need to deposit cash, either do so at an ATM or consider opening a low-cost account that charges relatively low fixed fees for cash deposits.

“FNB’s EasyAccount (which charges a flat fee of R4 a cash deposit at EasyPlan branches) and Nedbank’s Ke Yona (flat fee of R5.50 at Nedbank ATMs) might be good options,” he says. you pay beneficiaries. These SMSes are not free on Absa’s Silver Value Bundle or on Standard’s Elite Plus account.

Also watch out for the fees for withdrawing cash from the ATMs of banks other than your own.

When comparing the cost of withdrawals from other banks’ ATMs, Capitec beats the other banks “hands down”, with a fixed fee of R7. (See “Cost of withdrawals at another bank’s ATM”, below.)

Capitec is followed by FNB, which has a somewhat more complicated, and higher, fee structure. However, FNB is the only bank that imposes a limit on this fee. “A few years ago, FNB had one of the highest fees for withdrawals at other banks’ ATMs, but this situation has been reversed,” the report says.

Standard Bank, Absa and Nedbank do not have a limit on their fees for withdrawals from another bank’s ATM.