Low-cost banking in South Africa

Many bank accounts in South Africa carry hefty monthly maintenance fees and require clients to earn a certain amount to qualify for them. However, several low-cost bank accounts are also available.

These entry-level bank accounts generally carry comparatively minuscule fees, and some digital banks, like Bank Zero and TymeBank, charge no monthly maintenance fee.

MyBroadband looked for the cheapest bank accounts available through prominent physical banks like Absa, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank, as well as digital banks like Discovery Bank, TymeBank, and Bank Zero.

The accounts offered by TymeBank and Bank Zero are generally the cheapest available to South African clients. Payments, debit orders, and prepaid electricity and airtime recharges are free of charge.

However, as these banks are purely digital, they don’t offer customers the ability to deposit cash at ATMs or branches.

Other than Bank Zero and TymeBank, Nedbank’s MiGoals pay-as-you-use (PAYU) account has the lowest monthly maintenance fee at R5 per month. It also offers some of the lowest deposit fees.

Discovery Bank’s Gold pay-as-you-transact (PAYT) has the highest monthly account fee of the accounts compared at R25 per month.

Regarding cash deposits, Nedbank MiGoals PAYU clients pay a fee of R1.40 per R100 deposited at an ATM, while those who require assistance and deposit in-branch will pay R80 plus R3 per R100 deposited or part thereof.

Only Absa’s Transact and Capitec’s GlobalOne account offer cheaper branch deposits. Both charge R4 per R100 deposited or part thereof.

However, Absa’s Transact account is the most expensive for ATM deposits, charging R2.50 per R100 deposited.

FNB’s Easy PAYU account charges the highest branch deposit fee at R80 plus R3.20 per R100 deposited or part thereof.

Of the brick-and-mortar banks compared, Nedbank’s MiGoals PAYU account charges the lowest fee for external debit orders: R3.00. All other physical banks charge R3.50 for external debit orders.

Digital banks TymeBank and Bank Zero don’t charge customers for external debit orders, while Discovery Bank charges R3.75 for external debit orders through its Gold PAYT account.

Similarly, TymeBank and Bank Zero also don’t charge customers for payments, while Discovery Bank charges R2.75 for payments to Discovery Bank accounts and to accounts with other banks.

FNB’s Easy PAYU and Nedbank’s MiGoals PAYU have the lowest payment fees of the physical banks, both charging R1 for payments, regardless of whether they’re to Nedbank accounts or accounts with other banks.

The tables below compare various banking fees for entry-level bank accounts from prominent physical and digital banks in South Africa.