Savings accounts have not escaped the latest round of increases in fees, Personal Finance's latest survey on banking charges shows.
The charges for some transactions have been increased by anything from three percent to 125 percent since the survey was published in August last year.
Standard Bank and NBS Bank have implemented annual increases since the last survey and FNB has also increased some charges. FNB will do its annual charges review later this year.
Standard Bank has raised its card replacement fee from R6 to R10 which is a 67 percent increase.
The bank has also restructured its debit order fees. Previously the bank charged R2,70 for all debit orders, but now it distinguishes between a debit order that goes to an outside organisation and those that are paid to Standard Bank affiliated companies, for example, Stannic.
A new charge based on a sliding scale depending on the amount of the debit order has been implemented on debit orders to outside organisations. It is R2,45 for the first R100, R0,95 for the next R100 or part thereof, to a maximum of R16,50.
So a R250 debit order, for example, would cost you R4,35 and a R1 000 debit order will now set you back R11.
Internal debit orders have been reduced from a flat rate of R2,70 to R1,85.
Standard Bank has also increased charges for cash withdrawals from its savings accounts. Withdrawals from one of the bank's own ATMs now costs R3 for the first R100 and R0,75 for every R100 thereafter. Withdrawals from ATMs other than Standard Bank's are based on the same fee plus an additional charge of R4. This means that a R250 withdrawal from your bank's own ATM will cost R4,50 while from another bank's ATM it will be R8,50. On a R250 withdrawal this is an increase of 29 percent in the first case and 21 percent in the second.
The fee for account payments at Standard Bank has been adjusted. It is based on a sliding scale and the maximum that you can be charged has been increased by 10 percent to R8,25.
Two over-the-counter transactions have also been increased at Standard Bank. These are the cash withdrawal which now costs a flat R12 or 20 percent more and a provisional statement which has increased by 43 percent from R1,40 to R2. However, the first provisional statement that you ask for in a month is free.
NBS Bank has raised its fees for debit and stop orders as well as inter-account transfers and account payments via an ATM by 16 percent to R2,11 in each case.
Cash withdrawals at an ATM have gone up to R2,04 for every transaction and now cost you 12 percent more on any amount, while cash withdrawals at the ATMs of other banks at R6,73 are now 10 percent up on any amount.
NBS Bank has also raised its charges for cash withdrawals and deposits at a teller inside the bank. Cash withdrawals on any amount cost R5,53 and deposits over R5 000 cost R0,86 for every R100 that you deposit, representing increases of 20 percent and 46 percent respectively.
FNB has introduced a new fee of R5,70 on cash withdrawals at a bank teller. On amounts under R1 500 you now pay R10,25 (125 percent more) and the charge on amounts over R1 500, which was free, is now R5,70.
Cash withdrawals and inter-account transfers at ATMs on an FNB account have been raised by 14 percent if your balance drops below R1 500.
At FNB, the fee for depositing cash has been increased by four percent on amounts over R1 000.
You should check whether you are using your savings account correctly and this depends on the interest earned and how the charges are structured. At FNB, for example, you are encouraged to use your account for the purpose of saving and are penalised for transacting frequently from the account. If you deposit your salary into your account and use it all up by the end of the month, you are in the wrong account and should switch to a transmission account.
But at NBS, the charges on transmission and savings accounts are the same, but you get a better interest rate on the savings account. This means you can use your savings account to save and to pay your monthly bills.
You can reduce your bank charges by using direct debits to pay your accounts and insurance premiums, and direct credits to have your salary, pension and investment income paid into your account.
At some banks , the charges on certain transactions fall away if you maintain a certain balance. At Standard Bank, the balance you need to keep in your account is R2 000 and at Nedbank and Permanent Bank it is R1 500.
At Permanent Bank a debit order costs R2,28 but if the average balance in the previous cycle is greater than R1 500, then the debit order is free.
At Absa a balance threshold is R1 500 on a savings account opened before the amalgamation of the four banks, but on the new ActiveSave accounts the balance is R2 000.
Look after your ATM card because you are charged a fee by many of the banks if you keep losing it.
At NBS you get free banking if you are a social, disability or war pensioner, or a full-time tertiary education student.
Free banking also applies to certain transactions at NBS if you keep a balance of R5 000 or more.
By keeping a balance of R2 000 to R4 999 in your account, you get 12 free withdrawals and five free cheques, excluding Saswitch fees and government levies.