Banking

Here are your new banking fees for 2017

Staff Writer

 ·8 Dec 2016

Major banking firms in Standard Bank, Absa and Nedbank have announced changes to their banking fee structures for 2017.

A notable change for Standard Bank in 2017 is the structure of its fees. It has moved from a fixed rate plus a percentage of the value of the transaction, to a fixed fee per amount.

What this means for users is that transaction fees become significantly higher on high-value transactions (R1,000 plus) – but actually translates to a reduced transaction fee in lower amounts (under R500).

Data from South Africa’s banks in the past have shown that the average transaction comes in below R500, so this would be good news for the average banking client.

For Standard Bank clients who are using bundled accounts, the group’s Elite Banking account will increase by 5% to R100 from January, while its Prestige Banking will increase by 6% to R190.

Absa’s transaction fees have followed the annual trend with low to medium increases. The format of the transaction fees remains the same with a fixed fee plus fixed amount per value to determine the cost.

Absa’s Gold bundle now costs R98 per month, while the Platinum bundle is R159 per month.

One of the most significant changes to the Nedbank fees for 2017 is the charge of R4.00 when you decide to fill up your car using your Nedbank debit or cheque card.

Below is a breakdown of select fees across Standard Bank, Absa and Nedbank’s ‘main’ accounts (‘Gold’ equivalents). All prices are based on pay-as-you-transact fees, after bundle limits, where available.

Note: FNB and Capitec make changes to their fee structures during the course of the year (Capitec with effect from March 2017 and FNB from July 2017). The figures quoted in the tables below are the fee structures for the 2016/17 period until their new fees are announced.

The full 2017 pricing for Nedbank’s Savvy Plus can be found here.