standard bank

[murdock]

i forgot to mention i queried the R57 service fee i get charged for every month over and above the standard premium...apparently it is a standard fee that all customers who have vehicle and asset finanace pay...to run the service centre...do your maths on this one how many customers do they have x by R57 which is over and above normal service fee you pay for your bank accounts...it is starting to sound like a goverment institution...now i can see why they are rated the best service company...give me a 50 million to run a service centre which takes 10 minutes to get thru to after you have answered all the question put in your id number etc etc..then finally get thru to a rep who so so rude and talks to me like they are doing me a favour...what they seem to forget its aholes like me who pay their salary...what really make me laugh was when i was asked my id number again...i queried this and was told it was standard procedure and the fact that their computer system is so slow they have to do while they are waiting for my info to appear on the screen...surely standard bank can afford to upgrade their computer system with all the money they make...or are the shareholders taking huge bonuses...

i need to channel my energy into more productive things than wasting it compaining about things i will never change.

[desA]

@Murdock:

Man, it sounds like you really need to convert yourself to cash only.

[casperl]

All SA banks are the same. It is not only Standard Bank though...

Data extrapolated from the uncensored report of the Competition Commission (as published on WikiLeaks, which unfortunately is down at present) has it that roughly 10% of the balance sheet profit income of FNB, Standard and Absa are made up from "Penalty Fees". http://secure.financialmail.co.za/09...est/amoney.htm

If you think R85 is high for a penalty fee, try the double-whammy from Standard Bank - go below the minimum amount in an account and get hit by a R150 penalty, and then a few days later, because your account is now R150 under the minimum amount in addition to the original minimum balance, you are then hit with a further R150 for not having funds in your account to cover the original R150 penalty.

SA consumers have very few alternatives, they are all in on the act of fleecing the consumer and small business owner for as much as they can get away with. Maybe Capitec bank is an exception on this rule?

[desA]

Any Muslim banks operating in SA?

[AndyD]

Any Muslim banks operating in SA?

I like the way you're thinking out of the box here DesA. What about The Bank of Athens and other similar banks, do they operate in SA.

I confess I had high hopes for an improvement in the way the banks do business when I heard the Virgin were starting to trade in this market a while back but alas it wasn't to be.

[casperl]

Does anyone remember the old days in BC (Before Computers)?

My first account at Standard bank in 1979 was a savings account. I had a "savings book" which cost me R0.00 in service charges, fees or anything else - Zip, Zilch, Zero, Nothing! Money was drawn over the counter and quarterly the bank teller would take your savings book, make an additional calculation where I actually got interest from Standard on my balance in the savings book. Yes, Standard bank actually GAVE ME MONEY, and CHARGED ME ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Now banks make money off transactions and not from the interest differential between their loans and the deposits they hold as they did for hundreds of years before the 1980's.

Where the hell did we go wrong?

The bank manager used to be a REAL PERSON, whom you could approach and talk to and who looked at your situation in sympathy. But then the computers, and the faceless "they" at head office took over....

[Dave A]

We do have Muslim banks. Part of the NCA complexity arises because of their "no interest" rules. I've got no idea what their service charges might be like, though.

Where the hell did we go wrong?

The slow slide due to a lack of consumer resistance in the main, I think.
That said, the big jump in the service charge raping when the National Credit Act came along was an interesting twist.

[desA]

I like the way you're thinking out of the box here DesA. What about The Bank of Athens and other similar banks, do they operate in SA.

I confess I had high hopes for an improvement in the way the banks do business when I heard the Virgin were starting to trade in this market a while back but alas it wasn't to be.

The problem with much of business in SA, is that monopolies & cartels seem free to operate without restraint. This seems to dominate the overall business landscape, including power generation & supply, mining, banking, distributors & so forth. South Africans seems to have become conditioned to just accept this as a 'normal' part of everyday life.

The problem is that it is far from 'normal' - it is close to being criminal.

To get out from under these cartels, lateral thinking has to be used. Imagine being a slave to the bankers who need your deposits & business to survive - it is perverse.

[murdock]

just like the airlines are doing to people who need to travel during the soccer worldcup...my mates has bought a ticket to bring his daughter home during her school holidays from the USA...the ticket is R14000 more than the normal price...i wonder if i can put my rates up during that period because it sure as damn sounds everything else is gona go up..anyone need an electrician during this period....book now the rate will only be 300% more than standard rates. offer ends today after today you will pay 1000%