CHARLENE CLAYTON
Standard Bank customers will kick off the new year with increases in bank charges of up to 67 percent.
The service fee on cheque accounts, certain electronic transactions and other fees such as stop payments, card replacements and cheque books will be increased from January 1 next year.
If you have a Classic Cheque account package with Standard Bank, look after your bank card, because if you lose it you will have to fork out R10 for a new one, 67 percent more than the old price of R6.
A replacement chequebook next year will set you back R10 instead of R9.
Other increases include:
* Provisional statements that you request at the bank counter will cost you R2 instead of R1,40;
* In general, over-the-counter transaction fees will be increased by 20 percent, from R10 to R12;
* The cost of drawing cash from an automatic teller machine (ATM) increases by 30 percent for an amount of R250 and 42 percent for an amount of R1 000. Cash withdrawals cost R1,75 for the first R100 and R0,75 for every R100 thereafter;
* Charges for cheques of more than R100 will rise. The maximum charge, for cheques over R1 500, has been upped by 10 percent;
* Debit orders which now cost R2,70, will cost R2,45 for the first R100, R0,95 for every R100 to a maximum of R16,50;
* A stop payment instruction to your bank will cost you 14 percent more;
* You will be charged R10 if you overstep your overdraft limit and R75 for issuing a cheque without enough funds in your account;
* The minimum service fee, even if you don't conduct a transaction from your bank account, has been increased by eight percent, from R12,50 to R13,50 a month, and
* If you've opted for "free banking" by keeping a certain minimum balance in your account, you will now have to keep an additional R250 in your account. The minimum you must keep to qualify for the rebate has been increased by 14 percent from R1 750 to R2 000.