Zero-fee bank account battle
There are several bank accounts available in South Africa that don’t charge any fixed monthly fees while still offering extensive day-to-day transactional capabilities.
Some of these products are provided by digital-first upstart banks like TymeBank and Bank Zero, which have fewer staff, less physical infrastructure, and the latest technology unencumbered by legacy systems.
Thanks to lower operating costs, they can avoid charging monthly fees and offer low rates for core transactional banking services while still being viable businesses.
To make up for the lack of physical infrastructure, these banks support cash services like withdrawals and deposits through partnered retailers like Shoprite and Pick ‘n Pay.
The major banks have responded with their own zero-monthly-fee or low-cost pay-as-you-go products.
However, MyBroadband recently found that a basket of common transactions on these two bank accounts was still substantially cheaper than alternatives from Absa, Capitec, Discovery Bank, Nedbank, FNB, and Standard Bank.
The Solidarity Research Insitute’s most recent Banking Charges report also determined that Bank Zero and TymeBank offered the lowest total cost for 14 common digital-only transactions.
We compared the fees for performing various common transactions and actions on zero-fee bank accounts to see how their features and pricing stacked up.
Several banks also offer student or youth accounts with no monthly fees, but these are only available up to a specific age.
We did not consider Discovery Bank’s pay-as-you-use account because its fee list does not mention withdrawal or deposit costs.
It also technically includes a monthly banking fee as it requires having another Discovery product.
Therefore, we focused on four accounts available to the general public from Bank Zero, FNB, Nedbank, and TymeBank.
In general, we again found that Bank Zero’s Debit account and TymeBank’s EveryDay account had the lowest fees and the widest range of capabilities.
The table below compares the prices of various transactions on four of South Africa’s zero-monthly-fee bank accounts.
| Transaction | Bank Zero Debit account | FNB Easy Zero Debit | Nedbank MobiMoney | TymeBank EveryDay account |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal — same bank ATM or kiosk | n/a | – First R1,000: R10 – Per R1,000 over R1,000: R14 | – First: Free – Thereafter: R10 each | Free |
| Withdrawal — other bank ATM | R9.00 per R1,000 | R12.00 + R2.60 per R100 | n/a | R10.00 per R1,000 |
| Withdrawal — point-of-sale | R2.00 | R1.50 | – First: Free – Thereafter: R10 each | – Free with TymeCode at PnP & Boxer – R3.00 with card at all retailers |
| Deposits | Retailer-dependent | – First R1,000: Free at FNB ATM – Retailers: R19.95 | – First R4,000: Free at Nedbank ATM – Thereafter: R5.00 per R100 or part thereof | – First: Free – Thereafter: R7.00 per R1,000 or part thereof |
| EFT | Free | R1.00 | Only bank-defined beneficiaries: R5.00 | Free |
| Immediate payment | n/a | – Payshap to other bank Free for less than R100, R0.65 per R100 thereafter – Payshap to same bank: R1.00 | n/a | – PayShap: Free – RTC: R7.00 |
| Send money to phone number | R8.50 | eWallet: R10.00 | R10.00 | PayShap: Free |
| Prepaid airtime and data purchases | Free | R0.50 | Free | R0.50 |
| Prepaid electricity purchases | Free | – Up to R75: R0.50 – Between R75 and R150: R1.50 – Over R150: R3.00 | Free | R3.00 |
| International conversion fee | R0.00 on rand-denominated transactions | n/a | n/a | 2% of transaction value |
| View balance | – Local ATM or POS: R2.00 – Mobile app: Free | – Mobile and online: R0.00 – Other bank ATM or telephone banking: R8.50 POS: R2.00 | n/a | – Local ATM or POS: R3.00 – Mobile app: Free |
| Statements | Older than 3 months: R10.00 per statement (no charge for downloads in xls format) | Print Mini statement at ATM: R4.25 per page | n/a | Last 12 months: Free |
| Card chargeback | R50.00 | n/a | n/a | R10.00 |
| Proof of payment | – Email: Free – SMS: R1.50 | n/a | n/a | – Mobile app: R0.00 – SMS: R0.50 |
| Card issuing and delivery | – Clicks collection: R59 – Most delivery locations: R99 – Remote delivery locations: R129 | Free at branch | n/a | – Free at kiosk – No delivery options |
| Maximum balance in account at any given time | None | R14,000 | R24,000 | R40,000 default R10 million after biometric verification |
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