Comparing SA Banks

[mother]

In your opinion (experience), which bank offers the best all-round service for personal banking and for business banking? Specifically if you compare personal service, online security, bank charges... What else would you consider key criteria?

[Pap_sak]

Capitec for personal FNB for business (purely because Capitec does not do business accounts) and Capitec for merchant services.

[mother]

Wow Pap_sak, you are obviously VERY happy with Capitec. Funny, I've never even considered them.

(You see, growing up in a small town, you never realize that there's life beyond "Volkskas". It took enormous courage way back to break with Volkskas and move to Trust Bank... only to end up back in the same friggin pot again! Hehehe. But for some reason I've never considered any bank other than the obvious household names ... Absa, Standard, FNB, Nedbank)

It's time I opened my mind a bit! Was it not Capitec that launched that marketing campaign a while back to show how their bank charges are the lowest, since they do not occupy extravagant premisses?

[Dave A]

I was looking at business account costs not that long ago, and FNB came out trumps. Standard Bank is the most expensive just at the moment.

Part of the problem is the situation is pretty fluid. It wasn't that long ago that Standard Bank was the cheapest, but in my situation moving business accounts around isn't exactly straight forward.

[johnwarner75]

make sure best value = best service, and don’t get conned into paying for platinum service when you only need a reasonable one. I say that (sceptically) as I find all banks offer the same packages one way or another

[mother]

You know, I remember way back when I started earning a salary, how truly aspirational those silver / gold / platinum packages were. Nowadays, it seems everyone qualifies for gold, as if the criteria have dropped radically ... or have my perceptions just changed?

I am seriously considering moving my personal accounts somewhere else. But like Dave mentioned, changing your bank is no joke. My business is with "Bank A", and I am quite happy with them. Service great, and bank charges acceptable. The bank fees on my personal account "Bank B" are 5 x higher than the bank fees of my business account, with less than 10% the number of transactions. Shocking!

[AmithS]

Capitec Merchant Services?

[wynn]

Dave, how about running a poll on this matter, a 1 to 10 type thing where you name your bank/banks and give them a rating for service, care, cost, response etc.

???

[Blurock]

As Business consultant and ex banker I get to deal with a diverse group of clients who all have different banking requirements. I agree with Dave; FNB is by far the cheapest and Standard Bank the most expensive, closely followed by Absa. I have also had good reports on Capitec, although I have not dealt with them yet. Absa's internet banking for small business is by far the most expensive and is pricing them out of the market. With FNB internet banking is free.

Unless you have turnovers running in the region of R100 mil, forget about building personal relations with your bank as in the old days. Today you are just a number. Banks have turned into call centres where you push buttons for various services. If you do have someone that listens to you at any bank, hold on to him/her as they are precious and a dying breed.

[Dave A]

Dave, how about running a poll on this matter, a 1 to 10 type thing where you name your bank/banks and give them a rating for service, care, cost, response etc.

I think the vBulletin poll functionality is too simplistic for that level of survey detail. It would take something like monkeysurvey to pull that one off.

[wynn]

You're the expert can we do this and include the results in the wiki for posterity? or maybe do it in the blog and extrapolate the results?

[tec0]

I cannot tell you who are the best but ABSA BANK GROUP are probably the worst. As a check-acount holder you don’t get a “Smart Card” you get an easy to clone piece of crap and you can complain about it but the manager’s nose is in the air so they don’t hear you…

Banking there is like having your tonsils removed via an old used toilet scrubber. There is always a bad attitude with management and that is only the start of it.

You don’t get assistance when you need it. The elderly have to stand in long rows because there is only 1 person aiding them, if you want information about your car finance you have to use a RED PHONE after you stood in a row at the help desk for about an hour! An HOUR!!! And you need a printout, now the help desk staff cannot understand that I as a customer need a print out. That damn RED PHONE doesn’t come with a PRINTER!!! But that is incomprehensible for the help desk.

If you ask the help desk in your home language HE OR SHE can never understand you if you speak in English you have to repeat yourself constantly! An “Majority person” can do banking in his/her own language. They “the help desk” are NOT audible at all most of the time so it is like talking to the wall. They cannot assist you even on the simplest request.

They will claim that they called you several times if you have to come in for something but your phone records do not reflect this. They will misplace your motor vehicle’s ownership papers and claim you are to blame.

There ATM’s are always out of funds or never working!!! When you want to swipe your card inside the mall they cannot process the information or you get an error claiming the card is no longer in use!!! OR your damn unprotected card gets cloned and you magically lose money!!!

There bank charges are really high and if you want to transfer money from bank to bank they take a good helping for “processing the funds” fact is they keep your money ransom that is the truth! You cannot get your money out of ABSA BANK without losing a massive amount! Honestly it is like steeling!

If you have a "good" amount of money in ABSA Bank you have my sympathy, but if you can close your account and GET OUT of ABSA do so… They are truly the worst bank in South Africa.

And basically I am forced “due to their high banking fees” to keep my account open because I will lose simply too much in banking cost to move my account else were. In short I am being blackmailed.

[Blurock]

You have choices in life mate. Change your bank. It will cost you nothing and you will save in the long run. As consumers we do not have to put up with bad service. We can take our business elsewhere. Stop wingeing and do something.

[tec0]

The transfer cost or even a check will set me back more then what I am willing to lose, they didn’t earn it. But I am slowly working my way around that maybe soon.

[wynn]

Teco, the way you do it is to open an account at the new bank then all future business goes there, you don't have to transfer all your funds there immediately.
Eventually the account at the old bank will wind down, sure it will cost you PM to keep the old account for the month or two it takes to wind down but in the end it will be worth it.
Don't say anything to the old bank until the new account is up and running perfectly, you don't want to burn any bridges until you are sure of the new bank. ;D