![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Banking-charges-2025-profiles.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAcross each profile, there are different ‘winners’ in terms of affordability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Entry-level:<\/strong> Absa Transact<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Mid-level: <\/strong>Capitec<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Top-level: <\/strong>Nedbank Migoals Premium<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
For entry-level accounts, Solidarity’s analysis shows that Absa’s Transact account is now definitively the cheapest low-transaction account among the legacy banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a title that was previously held by Capitec Bank thanks to its interest earned on values in the main account. This often negated the monthly fee and even some transaction fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Capitec’s accounts still earn interest, the bank has made significant changes to these in 2025, setting it at a flat rate across all value ranges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because other banks now offer similar benefits, and almost all banks offer linked savings accounts, Solidarity has now excluded this from the comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of this, and because Absa has stopped automatically moving customers to the Flexi account when they pass a certain earnings threshold, the Absa Transact account is now comfortably the cheapest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
12-transaction accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/12-Transactions-2025-1024x561.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n17-transaction accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/17-Transactions-2025-1024x550.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nFor the mid-level accounts, Capitec emerged as the most affordable by R2.50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capitec had previously only played in the entry-level space, but it has quickly become a popular option for middle-income earners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This includes the group’s play in rewards programmes which are popular among this level’s banking clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, SRI noted that, at R2.50 or R3.50 more, the Nedbank and FNB accounts offer more in terms of value-adds, which would make spending the extra money slightly more cost-effective, depending on what benefits customers seek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
25-transaction accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/25-Transactions-2025-1024x568.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAt the top-level, Nedbank’s Migoals Premium emerged as the most affordable account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRI noted that cost is likely not a major factor at this level of banking, as most intensive bankers will be looking more at value-adds, which the big banks are happy to cater to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Costs in this segment are relatively uniform, with banks looking to differentiate through perks, bonuses and rewards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
30-transaction accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/30-Transactions-2025-1024x597.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nIf online banking is all a customer needs without the bells and whistles, online-only bank accounts are even more affordable that entry-level offerings, with TymeBank by far the cheapest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both TymeBank and Bank Zero zero-rate a host of fees, but the former gets the edge with its PayShap transactions coming at no cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SRI said that if branches are not a necessity, then online banking is the clear winner when it comes to affordability, with the banking charges self-explanatory as to why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
14 online transaction accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/14-online-transactions-2025-1024x638.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Solidarity Research Institute’s latest banking charges report reveals which accounts are most affordable for entry, mid, and top-level customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":791109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[29,1798,76,1799,499,13455],"class_list":["post-815832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-absa","tag-capitec","tag-fnb","tag-nedbank","tag-standard-bank","tag-tymebank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815851,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815832\/revisions\/815851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Mid-level: <\/strong>Capitec<\/li>\n\n\n\n