Bit confused by your ABSA Bank Charges claim, I only pay R100/pm all inclusive? With FNB I pay R85/pm.
I took the new unlimited banking option on the FNB cheque account. There might be more charges related to the credit card etc. but have compared apples with apples because the R231.60 also doesn't include "yearly" fees and credit card fees.
Breakdown of the 231.60:
MIN SERVICE FEE -30.00
TRANSACTION CHARGE -122.35
ADMIN CHARGE -5.00
INTERNET BANK FEE -74.25
Now bear in mind that I am on the Silver Package on ABSA (which is another story... I am not suppose to be on the Silver Package).
* The Minimum fee according to their website:"* The minimum monthly service fee is only charged if the sum of fees from cheques issued is less than R 30,00 per month." - hell I don't even have a cheque book. What is this minimum frekkin service charge for????
* Transaction Charge - As far as I can tell R68.75 of that relates to 7 debit orders. I only did around 5 debit card/ATM transactions on my cheque account.
But of course the whopper is the internet banking charges at -74.25? Why the hell do I have to pay to do what traditionally has been their work?? I mean I move my entire salary out during the month (seeing that whatever is left over at the end of the month doesn't get any interest) but that happens with a limited number of transactions. 74.25 for self-service electronic banking?
I must tell you that my decision to move to FNB has been influenced heavily with my experience with WesBank. I have financed two cars with them and had excellent service overall. When I applied for finance for my first car WesBank responded with 3 hours. ABSA came back to me about 5 weeks after I took delivery of the vehicle which took a few weeks to arrive.
Don't get me wrong -- banking is bad in SA -- but FNB has impressed me with their aggressive (at least for South Africa) pricing structures. The fact that they stated they believe the ridiculous SASWITCH fees should be dropped at the competition commission also earned them brownie points in my book.
I believe a bank should look after your money. Currently you have to watch the bank and try to optimize the way you use your banking facilities. FNB will not only save me a lot of money with the pricing structure but now I can actually bank the way it suits me .i.e. drawing smaller amounts of cash at a time reduces my risk, paying with my debit card instead of my credit card is a lot better for my cash managent (and now the debit card doesn't have transaction fees either), hell I can use my petrol card linked to my cheque account instead of running around with cash or paying an additional premium on petrol. I can monitor my bank account via the internet on a daily basis without incurring more charges. Did I say I get notifications with inContact is for free...
Oh well... let me use FNB for a month or two and see if I am happy.
I'm sounding like an ad. But the point is that not only is R66.00 a saving but over R231.60 but I do get a heck of a lot more. And better service as well.
I had to ask myself today -- exactly what do ABSA do to earn R231.60? Almost everything I do is electronic and almost nothing requires human intervention. How do they justify that amount?