The country's biggest bank, Absa, recently announced that it would not be increasing its fees this year. However, this might be because the bank is one of two banks charging the highest fees in the industry.
Gavin Opperman, Absa's retail bank chief executive, says the bank is actively driving consumer education to encourage the use of cheaper forms of banking. "Our decision to leave fees unchanged is a reflection of our commitment to consumers at a time when many are still under financial stress," he says.
But a recent snap survey conducted by the website Justmoney.co.za shows that if you compare bank charges for the Absa Silver pay-as-you-transact, First National Bank's Silver pay-as-you-use, Standard Bank's Classic pay-as-you-transact, Nedbank's current account and Capitec's Global One account, Standard Bank and Absa emerge as the banks with the highest fees.
Opperman says Absa will be "staying flat" on bank charges and service fees, after implementing an average increase of five percent, which was below inflation, in June last year.
He says consumers should be trying to bank smartly and efficiently to minimise the fees they pay and maximise the service they receive.
"For example, you could use electronic banking at a lower cost than branch banking or you could use a bundled package where you pay a fixed monthly fee for a set amount of transactions on your account," he says.
Absa reduced the penalty fee on returned debit orders from R100 to R5 in September 2008 - ahead of the recommendation from the banking inquiry report earlier this year.
First National Bank charges you between R105 and R130 for returned debit orders. Nedbank charges R80 and Standard Bank charges R115.
The price comparison by Justmoney shows that:
- Standard Bank charges you the most to make an ATM withdrawal of R500 - at a cost of R9.75;
- Standard Bank charges you the highest fee to make a withdrawal from another bank's ATM - at a cost of R14.70;
- Absa charges you the highest monthly fees - R30; and
- Both Standard Bank and Absa charge you the highest monthly fees for internet banking at R22 and R21.95 respectively.
Both banks told Personal Finance that you can avoid the monthly internet banking fee if you use a bundled package, which includes this cost.