Small business banking

[ians]

I visited FNB on Saturday.

Some interesting points...

Let's start with the fees. My service fee last month with Standard bank was a little over R 560.00, my turnover last month less than R100 k, this excludes all other fees, transfer fees, cash withdrawal fees etc etc etc. one example I did a R 550 eft transfer from my phone to a company, it cost me R55.00, that was just one of the transfers. It was actually a little more but we not going to stress about exact figures.

Cheque card, FNB offer a cheque card and an investment account with your business account. Standard bank doesn't offer a cheque card on business accounts only personnel accounts, what does this mean to a small business like mine, fees and more fees why because if I pay with my debt card ever time I swipe it, so to prevent these fees I transfer the money to my credit card which again cost fees, but even more of a mission, is having to wait the 3 days for the money to reflect in my Standard bank credit card. FNB cheque card, free unlimited swipes.

Cost for the package I am looking at R200 which includes a pile of services which interest me for what I want to do and are gona save me a couple hundred a month.

I am going to keep my one business current account with Standard bank while I test the waters with FNB, but from tomorrow I start shutting all other accounts with Standard bank, I just can't afford to bank with Standard any longer.

Ebuck sis another option which comes with the FNB account, I buy a lot of fuel. Standard bank ucount, no longer offers points for fuel, ebuck do, another saving which could cover my R200 service fee at FNB,

Gona be an interesting few weeks ahead watching the different bank accounts.

[ians]

Just to put you in the picture, even if Nedbank was cheaper and offered a better service, I wouldn't even consider them. 23 years ago when I started my electrical business they told me piss off and take my business somewhere else, when I applied for vehicle finance. To add salt to wound, the bank manager told my business wouldn't last 5 years. Funny how they the ones begging me for my business and retrenching staff.

[ians]

Small business banking

One thing I did forget to mention which I believe is going to be a huge factor when considering which bank to use as a small business. Smart phone payment methods, especially as a contractor, not so much for my manufacturing side, as payments will be done by electronic transfers.

As I am sure many contractors would agree, on site payments are going to become a reality soon. You fit the light, bill the customer and swipe the card. I believe this is going to help a lot of small contractor survive in the future, improving cash flow.

FNB informed me that they don't offer this facility at this point in time, but it should be available by the end of the year.

I am also told that there are a few challenges with this facility with the other banks at the moment. Maybe someone can assist with this comment. Do you experience any problems with this form of payments and are the costs a bit high?

[IanF]

Ian
Thanks for giving feedback, This should be interesting let us know about your experience with Internet banking as well

[IanF]

One thing I did forget to mention which I believe is going to be a huge factor when considering which bank to use as a small business. Smart phone payment methods, especially as a contractor, not so much for my manufacturing side, as payments will be done by electronic transfers.

As I am sure many contractors would agree, on site payments are going to become a reality soon. You fit the light, bill the customer and swipe the card. I believe this is going to help a lot of small contractor survive in the future, improving cash flow.

FNB informed me that they don't offer this facility at this point in time, but it should be available by the end of the year.

I am also told that there are a few challenges with this facility with the other banks at the moment. Maybe someone can assist with this comment. Do you experience any problems with this form of payments and are the costs a bit high?

Ian have a look at snapscan but it is a Standard bank product. What I understand is you get a QRcode which the customer scans with their phone and then puts in the amount in and it is transferred. I have been paid a few times by FNB app a few times and that works immediately FNB to FNB.
You could get the QRcode printed on your invoices or back of your business cards.

[ians]

Thanks Ian, I look forward to the new challenges, there are a few things which concern me but at this point in time, I need to start looking at a more effective method of banking I cannot afford Standard bank business banking fees, which have become an overhead that I can reduce. It might not be as smooth as I am hoping but at least I am gona saving a pile of money.

[ians]

I wanted to get a more accurate figue for my banking fees so I just rounded off the amounts and added up. Last month 1 of my standard bank accounts cost me R 1100. By changing to FNB and using their R300 package, I should save around, being realistic because there might be a few hidden cost or cost which I might not have taken into consideration, around R600. By closing other accounts I can add on another R200. That would cover my cellphone and land line cost .

[ians]

Just another fee which requires attention, my own faulty, the R9.00 postage fee

[Newretailer]

I am just sitting here in shock that you paid R55 for an EFT to a supplier. That exact same function cost me R1.50 at Capitec.

[ians]

The figue was rounded off to 55 it was actually R 52.44 for a R754 payment

[Newretailer]

There must be something wrong with that amount. That's more than one would pay for a cash deposit. I hope FNB treats you a lot better.

[ians]

Been trying to figue out how this R 55 figue came about, reading through fee structure etc, the max fee for an electronic account payment is R 18 some change so I went back and looked at the statement again on the phone, Then decided to open it on the laptop instead, I must apologies it seems it is my mistake. It seems another purchase was made within a couple of minutes of each other from the same company. 😏

[IanF]

One thing I did forget to mention which I believe is going to be a huge factor when considering which bank to use as a small business. Smart phone payment methods, especially as a contractor, not so much for my manufacturing side, as payments will be done by electronic transfers.

As I am sure many contractors would agree, on site payments are going to become a reality soon. You fit the light, bill the customer and swipe the card. I believe this is going to help a lot of small contractor survive in the future, improving cash flow.

FNB informed me that they don't offer this facility at this point in time, but it should be available by the end of the year.

Ian
I just remembered about Payfast Pay now you could sign up no monthly fee and go onto the website at the job insert the amount and customers email. Then they can pay via Payfast website with their credit card. You can withdraw the money from Payfast after 48 hours which takes up to 2 days.
Just something to throw into the pot.

[Justloadit]

I have my Trust at Stranded, and just looked, they charge me R5.50 for an EFT.
I see now that FNB no longer show the cost of the EFT transaction on their online bank statement, but charge an amount at the end of the month, in my case somewhere around R3 odd an EFT, I do a lot of EFT's so may have miss counted on the number of EFTs when dividing into the total month cost.

[Newretailer]

Thank you, Ianf. I use Payfast on my website, but didn't realise I can use it for other payments. Does that mean I could get money from other countries that way as well?