United Bank transmission account holder Michael McLaughlin recently discovered the merits of keeping tabs on bank charges, when he requested a statement of his account and discovered that for years he had been paying more than double the amount of his regular debit orders in charges.
Some years ago McLaughlin asked the bank to debit his account monthly with eight R1 paid up shares.
He recently discovered that he has been paying R2,28 in transaction charges on each of the R1 shares as well as government levy of 20 cents on each share!
The bank says the charge is levied whether the debit order is for R1 or R1 million and that the fee is for the instruction on the account.
While McLaughlin says that statements mailed to him showed only the balance and not the transactions and charges, the bank maintains he could have obtained a statement of his account from any branch, as often as he required, at no charge. It says he could also have obtained a ministatement from any BankTeller ATM, as often as required.
Fee increases, the bank says, would have been advertised in bank brochures as well as in ATM messages.
United has suggested McLaughlin open a HelpUPlus or a Special Savings account. If he maintains a balance of more than R1 500, he will not be charged the R2,28 fee for the debit orders. His only costs will be the government levy and Saswitch and Paynet charges.