FNB vs ABSA vs Standard bank

[league_of_ordinary_men]

Hi all

I have an business account with FNB and the other day I wanted to purchase an item from an international website and I wanted to use my business cheque VISA card.So I went through all the steps and when I wanted to pay my card didn't work,so I phoned them and found out I had to verify the card with VISA online so I tried but no option was available so I went to my FNB branch so they could help and they informed me that my card can't make international purchases and that I had to open an PERSONAL account and that card will work with international purchases.Now please correct me if I'm wrong but is a business account not suppose to have more "buying power" if you will then an personal account?

Well any why I will be make international payments through that site monthly so I'm thinking of switching to a different bank that will allow me to be able to make my international online purchases.So what bank will be best excluding FNB with regards fee's monthly fee's and restrictions?

[ians]

I applied for a credit card with Standard bank for my business, they told I didn't qualify because my credit rating was too low, so I applied for a personal cheque account and credit card they offered me R40 000 limits. I still don't have a business credit card so now I use my R99 account for literally everything. Just a tip...don't use your credit card to do an eft, they rip a hole so deep in your backside that you can taste it in your mouth.

Something else I learnt, link all your accounts and transfer the funds from your business account into your R99 account, it only cost R4.75 and then all the transaction including efts are free well for me so far, just check the fees, and like I said don't use your credit card to do efts, only swipe it.

I still don't know why people don't offer cash discounts when paying cash.

[MartinK]

Hi there

After investigating my bank statement for the last 6 months I've come to realize that Standard bank's been charging me R25 every month for some overdraft facility which I am using. Now according to my knowledge, to be able to use overdraft you must have R0 in your account which has never been the case. Just wanted to know if you experience a similar fate as me ?

Kind regards

[Mike C]

I know that some banks charge for allowing you to have an overdraft facility - whether you use it or not.

[roryf]

I know that some banks charge for allowing you to have an overdraft facility - whether you use it or not.

Nedbank does this and they call it a commitment fee.They have to have the money available even if you don't use it, so that is basically what they are charging for.

[ians]

It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

I have done a little research and apparently it is common practise for shops to investigate and verify place of work. They are loosing lots of money selling furniture to people who don't give them correct information, my only concern is that they try recover the money form me if the domestic doesn't pay. I will be following up and get the documentation and read it this week.

I had an employee who gave my physical address and my telephone number to a company, who are now harassing me, because my number is the number he gave and I get letters of demand by the dozen in my post box with his name on. I opened one to see what it was all about, to find it was a letter of demand for outstanding balances for a variety of companies. We wonder why you pay so much to buy clothing etc at places like Edgars, woolworths, etc, it is to cover all the lost revenue.

[ians]

Talking about surety, I had an interesting visit last week. People arrive at my gate and indicate that they are from Ellerines, doing a routine check to verify that I am in fact the employer of the person who has just purchased goods. They asked me to sign a form to verify I am the employer, they handed me 1 page to sign. I signed and made a note on the document that I will not take responsibility for any outstanding debts incurred by the employee. I requested a copy which they could not give me but indicated that they would send me a copy, I am still waiting for it. Anyone else had this experience?

[Blurock]

Banks will be more willing to provide finance if they can rely on collateral or a strong surety to back the transaction. This is called "mitigation of risk" but is actually more like pawn broking.

Be careful when signing surety. If you really have to sign, limit the surety to that specific transaction. Get a letter of confirmation from the bank that your surety pertains to that agreement/account only. Should the bank then enter into any further transactions with the borrower, you can not be held liable for those transactions.

There has been numerous cases where someone has signed an unlimited surety, which is then applied to a totally unrelated borrowing years later, only because the surety was never cancelled after the initial debt was repaid.

[CLIVE-TRIANGLE]

I still don't know why people don't offer cash discounts when paying cash.

I guess because of cash deposit fees and the security risk associated with getting it banked.

[Blurock]

I guess because of cash deposit fees and the security risk associated with getting it banked.

Good answer - and true. Once its known that you have cash on the premises you become a target.

FNB has an option on their internet banking for you to link the card for VISA online purchases. People at the branches (of all banks) are not always well trained or well informed. He/she probably looked at the computer and saw that your card was not linked. If you have a problem, it may be better to call a business banker.