First National Bank (FNB) has announced its annual price review for 2008/9, increasing fees on the fee manager option for personal cheque accounts and changing the standard annual credit card fee structure to reflect higher annual credit card fees for Gold and Platinum card holders.
If you use option one on the personal cheque fee manager account, which includes six transactions, your monthly fee will increase from R45 to R50.
The monthly fee on option two, including 12 transactions, increases from R85 to R90, and the monthly fee on option three, including 20 transactions, increases from R135 to R145.
If you have a Smart transmission account, you can now pay a monthly fee of R59.99 for unlimited electronic transactions. However, you will have to pay R25 for each transaction at a Saswitch ATM or bank branch, or by cheque.
Cheque account holders can also take advantage of unlimited electronic transactions for a monthly fee of R66.
Previously, Silver, Gold and Platinum credit card holders were charged the same annual fee of R155. However, if you own a Gold or Platinum credit card, you will now have to pay an annual fee of R225 or R285 respectively. This is an increase of 45.2 percent and 83.9 percent in bank fees on credit cards.
FNB pricing executive James Fowle says the bank chose to increase credit card fees in line with their offerings, which include a 24-hour call centre for Platinum card customers.
Smart, Silver and Gold credit card holders have a separate helpline, which operates only from 7am to 7pm.
If you use FNB's eBucks rewards system, you will now have to pay a R150 annual fee to link your credit card so that you earn eBucks whenever you use your credit card.
This means that even if you have already linked your credit card to the eBucks rewards programme (there was previously no linkage fee), you will be charged a linkage fee of R150 on July 1.
However, where you previously had to first spend a total of R500 a month before you started earning eBucks on your credit card, you will now earn eBucks from the time you start using your credit card each month.
You will no longer be charged a R2.65 fee for a declined transaction at an FNB ATM - there is now no fee for this - and the declined transaction fee at a Saswitch ATM remains at R4.20.
Fowle attributes the increase in fees for cheque and branch transactions largely to staff costs, which are driven by wage increases and the need to retain employees.
"The increase in branch cash fees is due to rising cash-handling and security costs," he says.
If you issue a cheque and there are insufficient funds in your account to honour the cheque, the bank will now charge you a fee of R105, which is R10 up from the previous fee of R95.
The fee to replace a lost card has increased from R45 to R50.
FNB has not changed its policy of not charging customers a monthly subscription fee for electronic banking. The new fees are applicable from July 1.