Competition between banks for your business is creating plenty of opportunity to negotiate the administrative charges that you pay to operate a banking account.
In the past banks offered account packages with a fixed set of fees, so when you opened a cheque account, you were obliged to pay a fixed set of costs relating to that account.
Riaan Stander, branch sales manager in Cape Town of Volkskas Bank, says competition for customers between banks is so great that banks have a minimum and maximum fee structure and negotiate a fee structure with customers within those parameters.
Some banks found it "difficult" to supply Personal Finance with their fee structures for this survey on banking charges.
First National Bank specifically was "reluctant" to commit itself to a fixed set of figures for fear that they may lose customers.
A spokesperson for the bank told Personal Finance that banking charges "are based on how banks perceive you".
If you go to two different banks to obtain charges for comparison purposes, and the one set of charges is lower than the other, it does not necessarily mean that the one with the lower fee structure is cheaper, the spokesperson said.
Banks generally have different current account packages on offer. Whether you qualify for a specific package is usually based on your income. The more you earn, the more benefits you enjoy such as free lost card insurance cover and slightly better interest rates on credit balances.
If you are serious about money management, you should make sure that you do not pay more to operate a bank account than you really need to.
If you do not qualify for a package which gives you lower fees and preferential interest rates, negotiate the charges with your bank.
An alternative is to choose a fixed monthly fee package, offered by some banks. Find out from your bank what the fee is and if you find you are consistently paying a higher monthly administration fee, request that you be put on this option.
Even better is to make use of the "free banking" option offered by some banks.
This means that you get a 100 percent rebate on your monthly service fees, provided you maintain a certain minimum balance, which can be anything between R1 000 and R5 000.
This week, in the table below, we have listed the fees for basic current account packages available from the large banks. Many of the banks have other cheque account packages available, so find out from your bank about them.
VAT is payable on banking charges and in the table this has been included for most banks.