Looking for a new bank

[derp90]

• I work for myself so no fixed "salary" income
• I receive a lot of USD payments
• Currently bank with Capitec

What I like about Capitec is the low fees and all my transaction fees are covered with the interest I earn.

Is FNB good? The eBucks looks like it would cover my bank fees as I buy from Checkers/Clicks and fill up at Engen.

 

[3WA]

No bank is good, but if you’re willing to jump through hoops for a reward programme, FNB is the best.

 

[R13...]

You don't seem to have any problem with Capitec so why move?

 

[derp90]

You don't seem to have any problem with Capitec so why move?

They blocked my attempts at signing up for project management software.

 

[newby_investor]

They blocked my attempts at signing up for project management software.

How so?

I've been with FNB. Unless you've got debt (home loan, car loans) with them, and use their insurance and/or investments, ebucks has been kind of progressively nerfed over the past couple of years. FNB also have awful customer support, their "premier secure chat" is terrible, and if you call them you now get an AI that fails to understand you for about five minutes before finally putting you through to an operator. I hate it.

I've since switched to Standard Bank and have been pleasantly surprised. I was assigned a "Prestige Banker" (Standard Bank has a Prestige account as their equivalent of FNB's Premier) who I can contact directly either via phone or email, and she just handles everything. The last three months have been a dream as far as banking is concerned.

So I'd vote for Standard. A few of my relatives also have been satisfied with ABSA but I've never banked there. I had a home loan with them at my previous place and had no particular issue, but I never tried to do anything interesting.

 

[WAslayer]

Moved from Absa, who at the time, was ludicrously horrible after I was happy with them for 8 years, to Standard Bank..

I can definitely recommend standard bank.. while I have a prestige account and a prestige banker, for the last 3 years I have not had to make use of her at all.. every thing is just working flawlessly..

I am also getting back about between 600 - 1k in ucount rewards a month which I am spending on paying for my sweepsouth service 4 times a month.. this used to be more before lockdown, when I was spending way more money on fuel every month.. they are still missing a cash out option, though they do offer the option to cash out to some specific types of savings accounts and loans, so it's not all bad..

 

[derp90]

How so?

I've been with FNB. Unless you've got debt (home loan, car loans) with them, and use their insurance and/or investments, ebucks has been kind of progressively nerfed over the past couple of years. FNB also have awful customer support, their "premier secure chat" is terrible, and if you call them you now get an AI that fails to understand you for about five minutes before finally putting you through to an operator. I hate it.

I've since switched to Standard Bank and have been pleasantly surprised. I was assigned a "Prestige Banker" (Standard Bank has a Prestige account as their equivalent of FNB's Premier) who I can contact directly either via phone or email, and she just handles everything. The last three months have been a dream as far as banking is concerned.

So I'd vote for Standard. A few of my relatives also have been satisfied with ABSA but I've never banked there. I had a home loan with them at my previous place and had no particular issue, but I never tried to do anything interesting.

I don't know... They just said they won't allow it because they "offer some payment services". I.e. integration with stripe or whatever, very standard.

I've emailed them and will try to escalate it.

Will look into Standard Bank.

 

[newby_investor]

I don't know... They just said they won't allow it because they "offer some payment services". I.e. integration with stripe or whatever, very standard.

I've emailed them and will try to escalate it.

Will look into Standard Bank.

If you have that specific requirement then you're going to need to speak to whatever customer service they have and explain carefully what you need. Rewards programmes matter very little if you can't get your main business function going.

Good luck!

 

[Affieplaas]

I am really happy with FNB. I hate going into a bank and prefer to do most things online. FNB's online banking is head and shoulders above the rest, IMHO in any case.
I have been with Nedbank, ABSA and Std Bank before and I also have a Capitec account. Out of these Nedbank was the worst, then ABSA and then Standard Bank which was acceptable. Capitec has great customer service but you have to go into a branch for many simple operations plus their low fees are limited to a number of transactions and thereafter it starts adding up quickly. While the Capitec online banking and banking apps' complexity are reflective of their target clients' IT skills (and I say this with the kindest intent possible), I want to be able to do more online and their app holds you back.

 

[Van87]

I've had an Absa account, standard bank as well as FNB account...

For simplicity, FNB has transitioned nicely into a somewhat electronic bank.

I can agree with one of the above posts about the awful AI bot in the Premier Suite... My mistake for upgrading...

I'd suggest STAY on Gold. Therefore for ebucks go for a gold credit and gold cheque Account.

If you have some cash to dump, throw it into your savings pocket (backend of your cheque account) will earn some minimal interest, but also be completely accessible.

Don't waste your time with being on premier or private black card. I will be downgrading back to gold.

Most of my queries are resolved via secure chat through the app, yes, it is slightly slow, but avoids branch visits.

Have not been into a branch for years....

 

[Hamster]

No bank is good

Laughs in Investec

 

[derp90]

I signed up for a Gold Cheque account. Hopefully after building up some history they will offer me a credit card/fusion account thing :/

Does anyone use that "bank your change" feature? Seems like an easy way to save some

 

[lkswan747]

Try CIT, there are branches all over the country. Only problem is they only allow withdrawals.

 

[Hamster]

If I was to open a new Bank Account right now in SA:

1. Investec if it is an option for you
2. Discovery Bank
3. FNB or Capitec depending on what you need.

FNB is a good bank but they still ha e branches and after being with them for over 15 years they finally forced me to go to a branch. Their secure chat is a glorified telephone number directory and anything above Premier is a waste of money.

But if your plan is to get balls deep in rubbish, home loans, life insurance etc and you want a one stop shop, FNB is hard to beat.

 

[Affieplaas]

I signed up for a Gold Cheque account. Hopefully after building up some history they will offer me a credit card/fusion account thing :/

Does anyone use that "bank your change" feature? Seems like an easy way to save some

Yes, I had one of these several years ago. It was created by default when I opened a new cheque account.

The idea is that the bank your change account is similar to your car "asbakkie" when the world was still an all cash place. You pay for your things with a R10 and the loose change goes into the asbakkie.

You can determine what you consider to be change i.e. to the nearest R5, nearest R10 or even nearest R100 if I recall.
So let's say you opt for the nearest R10. If you swipe your credit card for R95,92 then your credit card balance will decrease by R100 and R4,08 will be deposited into the bank your change account.

It gets calculated at the end of the week if I recall, so it is not calculated for every single transaction.

I guess it is good for people who are really bad at saving.

 

[newby_investor]

I signed up for a Gold Cheque account. Hopefully after building up some history they will offer me a credit card/fusion account thing :/

Does anyone use that "bank your change" feature? Seems like an easy way to save some

I found it to be mostly useless.

Do you not have a credit record at all? Can't see why they wouldn't have let you have fusion.

Though after having had both - I would personally stick to a separate cheque and CC. Unless you are all in for ebucks.

 

[derp90]

I found it to be mostly useless.

Do you not have a credit record at all? Can't see why they wouldn't have let you have fusion.

Though after having had both - I would personally stick to a separate cheque and CC. Unless you are all in for ebucks.

I do not have any credit record. Woolworths wouldn't even give me a store card. I have tried a TFG account now, hopefully that works. :/

 

[JayM]

anything above Premier is a waste of money.

Max eB I can earn on premier is like R1K. On PW some months it's over R3K, but always at least 3x the account fee. So it's definitely not a waste of money for everyone.

 

[newby_investor]

I do not have any credit record. Woolworths wouldn't even give me a store card. I have tried a TFG account now, hopefully that works. :/

I wouldn't bother with those. A cellphone contact, an insurance policy, these sorts of things are better IMO to build up a credit record. They actually do reflect on transunion.

I'm not too sure about a cheque account, whether that will make a difference at all. A credit card at your bank with a low limit will probably be more effective. I'm very surprised if you weren't offered it at all.

 

[derp90]

I wouldn't bother with those. A cellphone contact, an insurance policy

I have medical aid but that doesn't seem to count.