The new cheque deposit fee for business accounts at Standard Bank

[Dave A]

Five paragraphs from the end in this story on Moneyweb, Chrismine.

[Chrisjan B]

There is another small problem - my business built up a history over time so almost all cheques I pay in over the counter is immediately available.
When paid in via an ATM there is a 10 day hold on the cheque.

Very clever the banks ain't they?

[Blurock]

There is no justification for Standard Bank to charge this fee. We already pay fees on our cheque accounts. If a Standard bank client receives a cheque payment from another Standard bank client, it means that both the issuer and the receiver will be charged for the same cheque! Surely this must be illegal!
It may well be that this "directive" did not come from head office, but may be a "get rich quick scheme" by some local managers to boost their profits. Some Standard bank clients in the Western Cape have reported that their managers are not aware of this fee. Does any one know more about this and where the instruction came from?

[Dave A]

It's in the business pricing brochure on their website. I think it's safe to say it's national.

[BusFact]

... Surely this must be illegal! ...

No, I can't see why it would be. They can charge what they like. In turn we can take our business where we want ... sort of.

[Dave A]

There is no justification for Standard Bank to charge this fee. We already pay fees on our cheque accounts. If a Standard bank client receives a cheque payment from another Standard bank client, it means that both the issuer and the receiver will be charged for the same cheque! Surely this must be illegal!

No, I can't see why it would be.

(Illegal).

I'm not so sure of that. I vaguely recall that when an agent is facilitating a transaction between two parties, it's illegal for that agent to charge both parties. They're obliged to charge one or the other.

Whether I'm right, and if so whether it's statutory or common law I cannot say for certain. But it wouldn't surprise me if there's something along these lines lurking in Roman Dutch law that the foreign consultants who advised the banks on these charges weren't aware of.

As far as I know, the receiving bank gets some slice of the cheque fee raised against the drawer. If they also charged the depositor of the cheque, they'd be receiving funds from both parties.

[Blurock]

Maybe this is something that needs further investigation. In the US there are so many activist attorneys, you would have had a class action against the banks in no time. Unfortunately we SAffies are too complacent or lazy. We just accept what ever the govt. or big business throw at us....

[BusFact]

(Illegal).

I'm not so sure of that. I vaguely recall that when an agent is facilitating a transaction between two parties, it's illegal for that agent to charge both parties. They're obliged to charge one or the other.

Thats very interesting. I've never heard of it before, but would love it if someone could confirm it with some more details.
As they say ... you live and learn.

[Dave A]

...would love it if someone could confirm it with some more details.

Me too. And after a little Googling - If anyone has a copy of Wille's principles of South African Law lying around, the fun starts on page 984...

[Dave A]

Has anyone else not seen this cheque deposit fee refund yet? I've got one business account that received the refund a couple of weeks ago, but another hasn't received the refund yet.

And on the subject of bank fees, seen on TFSA (sometimes ads are really useful)

Unfortunately after a little Googling, the closest I got to the 2010 Finweek Bank Charges Report was on this page. Seems it's available to Finweek subscribers only.