Numerous bank hold-ups and cash-in-transit robberies over the past year, with almost R20 million of your money stolen in the past fortnight alone, are now hitting you in the pocket as the banks raise their charges.
The first sign is the increase in the extra fee you pay for drawing cash from an automatic teller machine (ATM) which is not part of your own bank's network.
Other cost increases are in the pipeline.
Banks say they have been subsidising the cost of ATMs for customers and will not be making any profit out of the increases in Saswitch costs, the fees banks charge each other for the use of their ATM networks.
When you use an ATM which does not belong to your own bank, you pay the Saswitch fee in addition to the transaction fees charged by your own bank.
Standard Bank's Saswitch fee (which excludes the bank's transaction fee) goes up by 40 percent from R2,50 to R3,50, from February 1 and First National Bank follows suit with a 20 percent increase from R2,85 to R3,42, excluding the transaction charge, from March 1.
NBS and Absa's charges, which include their transaction fees, have also risen.
NBS will impose a 33 percent increase from R3,75 to R5 and Absa has already upped its Saswitch fee by 60 percent from R3,75 to R6.
These increases are being forced on bank account holders when inflation is hovering at about eight percent.
The latest round of increases was sparked by Standard Bank in December last year, when it informed the Saswitch company, (a separate company owned by the four big banking groups to administer the collection and payment of Saswitch fees between the banks), that it would increase the cost to other banks for the use of its ATMs from R2 for the first R100 and 50 cents for each R100 thereafter to R3 for the first R100 and 60 cents for each R100 thereafter.
In a double blow to consumers, some banks are putting up their own fee structures as well.
In its annual fee review, which was effective from the beginning of this month, Standard Bank says it is adjusting its fees for certain transactions upwards.
NBS and Nedcor, which includes Permanent Bank and Nedbank, will also be increasing their fees, but are still deciding by how much.
Absa, which reviews its fee structure in March, "has no plans to adjust ATM fees in the near future", according to Walter Volker, Absa's assistant general manager, card and electronic banking.
First National Bank usually reviews its fee structure in the middle of the year.
Charles Chemel, deputy general manager, personal markets at Standard Bank, advises you to optimise your banking.
"It is becoming less necessary to pay by cash or cheque because Standard Bank and some other banks have introduced ATM card technology at the tills of merchants.
"Customers who use foreign ATMS need to weigh up the Saswitch fee against the convenience benefit," he says.
First National Bank's spokesman, Ann Bramhill, says to minimise costs, ATM users are urged to utilise their own banks' ATM network whenever possible.
Martin Pienaar, senior manager of retail electronic banking at Nedcor, says the cost of handling cash is becoming increasingly expensive and will lead to greater use of debit cards, smart cards and self-service terminals in branches.
"It is becoming quite intimidating for clients to draw cash and then be susceptible to being mugged," he says.
He attributes the rising costs of cash to the crime situation in South Africa.
Bryan McLachlan, retail distribution manager for NBS Bank, whose ATM charges are the lowest, says as a small player in the ATM network, NBS does not make a profit on the withdrawal fees. He says the bank prefers to keep its fees as low as possible so as not to discourage the use of cash cards. NBS does not offer cheque accounts, only transmission and savings accounts.