The big, bad wolf

Let`s face it; January is a hard, endless month. By mid-month, myself, and half the office, were looking at ways to cut corners so that we could make it to payday without having to take up a street-corner post and signage lamenting our collective woes.

Unsurprisingly, grudge payments like banking charges came under the spotlight. One colleague spoke of a cash deposit that was wiped out when handed in over the counter. Another spoke of external debit orders at 20 bucks a shot.

I, however, confidently boasted that I had the intelligence and foresight to move to the electronic payment option at my bank, as all I ever do is move money around on the Net, swipe my card and sometimes take money out of the machine.

I have never understood the gobbledygook pamphlets put out by the banking fraternity.

Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb

I can`t clearly recall the advent of the ATM, but some folk have clued me in on the news that it was going to make banking cheaper as one didn`t have to employ tellers to do what could be done automatically.

It`s a moot point arguing whether this did or did not happen. What we can argue, however, is that online banking does not seem any cheaper than less virtual banking was before this option became available.

Even my move to the electronic option hasn`t saved me as much as I thought. That, or I was spending much more on miscellaneous fees than I thought.

You see, I pay R85 a month for a set amount of transactions. Don`t ask me how much of what exactly I can do before I start paying, I have never understood the gobbledygook pamphlets put out by the banking fraternity.

Except now things seem even more complicated than before, and I had to sit down with a highlighter and a calculator to work out what was going on.

In September, I paid over R350 on service fees. This sum of money, I should point out, could have been invested to bring me great returns for years to come. Anyway, over 200 bucks of this was in 'service fees`. For what, I`m not sure, as every other line item also has a minus amount next to it.

A close look shows an external debit and a withdrawal of cash at an ATM costs ten bucks, sometimes. Swiping my card is R4.50 a time, and there`s a monthly account fee of 11 bucks.

I have since moved to the 'e` option and now spend less than half that amount on fees, although individual items have gone up. Cheques, for example, are now 20 and not 10 bucks.

Fair enough, someone has to open the envelope, make a notation in a book, stamp it, make another notion, pass it to the next department, etc. But why in the world am I paying six and three bucks a pop for the privilege of doing the bank`s work for it?

Yup - me putting extra money into the bond, for example, will cost me for the privilege of logging on and doing just that. Surely, the bank should pay me for doing its work for it?