I just got a call from Standard Bank. The cheque deposit fee on business accounts has been suspended and fees charged so far will be credited back into my accounts.
The lass did stress the fee has been suspended - it may be re-introduced again at some point in the future.
It pays to voice your objections, folks. Although "victory" in this case may be temporary...
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Two things to report:
First - no sign of the promised refund for the cheque deposit fees raised so far.
Second - I've just picked up another new fee that wasn't there before - a monthly management fee of R28 per month.
Not nearly the same kind of financial effect as the cheque deposit fee, but still - yet another fee added to the program.
Last edited by Dave A; 02-Feb-11 at 09:33 AM.
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Between the banks and the cellphone companies they are as bad as each other. A necessary evil and they have no moral guidance with the new ways they dream of ripping us off. Also they don't seem to care if their names are dragged through the mud. I saw the other day that MTN responds quickly if you complain through twitter, but that will change.
Competition, what competition oligopoly rules in SA!
Only stress when you can change the outcome!
Standard Bank seem to have publically said they will suspend the fee for 3 months. Moneyweb The reason for "seem to" is the PR guys always manage to twist out of statements they make.
Standard Bank (JSE:SBK) last week suspended a newly introduced cheque deposit fee for its business segment following complaints from some angry customers. The move will see Africa’s largest bank by assets refunding business customers the full cheque deposit fees it collected from them since the beginning of the year.
Standard Bank said it had suspended the fee for three months. The suspension leaves Absa (JSE:ASA) as the only bank that charges business clients fees for cheque deposits on branch counters.
Standard Bank had introduced a deposit fee of R12.50 for each cheque deposited, prompting some customers to complain on various forums. Some customers contacted the bank to deal with the matter.
The bank said it spoke to its customers and the branch network on January 26, to clear the matter and pledged to refund business customers affected. It added this was a demonstration that Standard Bank is a “customer centric organisation” that acts on the concerns of its customers.
Only stress when you can change the outcome!
Dave A (03-Feb-11)
Well worth reading the full article. Clearly this isn't over.
I see ABSA has also introduced a cheque deposit fee for business clients. It's R10 per deposit as opposed to per cheque. It only affects over-counter cheque deposits; depositing a cheque via ATM does not attract the charge.
Absa said for small business customers the fee was introduced from February 1, 2011 and for retail customers the fee will come into effect on March, 1
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Sing it with me
It's too late now
Oh baby it's too late now.
I've got someone new
In place of you
And I'm gone, gone, gone.
We've moved. FNB even did all the hard work for us. I just gave them copies of the last 3 months bank statements and they did all the sorting out of debit orders. The only pain has been notifying all our existing customers, but that seems to have gone well so far. I even got some phone calls of support for the move. It may even turn into good PR.
Banks need to be more effective in their business of taking deposits and lending to Businesses. Their top executives earn too much and they are more aligned to shareholders than clients and staff. Fire only one top executive with a package of R20mil p.a.(they can easily crop head office expenses) and you can fund the service fees of 40,000 businesses (@ average of R400 ! pm).
The bonus system leads to unscrupulous practices such as unwarranted fee increases etc. They do not inform clients because they must be ashamed of their actions.
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