Independent research by a local financial website, ThinkMoney, has confirmed that Capitec Bank offers South Africa’s lowest bank charges.

Based on bank charges and interest rates for May 2009, respondents used ThinkMoney’s online calculators to indicate how many transactions they make on their accounts each month. The responses were then categorised into a number of profiles statistically representative of real people’s banking habits. Each profile group comprised around 150 to 200 ThinkMoney users. As examples, the 'Starter Outs' were those with banking transactions amounting to between R3000 and R5000 each month while the 'Family Man' transacted to the value of between R9000 and R11 000 each month.

In the Starter Out category, 22 standardised transactions in a month — including cash withdrawals, debit card purchases, stop and debit orders, account payments and balance enquiries — would cost just R28.25 per month using a Capitec Bank Global One banking facility. In the Family Man category, 23 standardised transactions of similar type would cost R39 per month.

The second more affordable account in the Starter Out category was MTN MobileMoney’s Standard Package at R58 per month, followed by Standard Bank’s Classic Transactor Current Account on a fixed monthly fee of R66.73 per month. In the Family Man category, next most affordable to Capitec Bank was the FNB Smart Transmission Account on a pay-as-you-use option at R59.55 per month, followed by Standard Bank’s Classic Current Account on the refund option at R64.41 per month.

The ThinkMoney research also calculated the net return on accounts for the year, based on the interest earned minus the bank charges paid. Capitec Bank’s net return for both the Starter Out and Family Man categories was significantly higher than the second placed bank’s account.

Capitec Bank’s Global One facility would earn clients a positive return (interest income) of R252 per year for the Family Man category compared to the negative return (cost) of R660 for the next best option, the FNB Smart Transmission Account. For Starter Outs, a Capitec Bank account would cost just R79 per year (net cost after interest earned and fees deducted). The next best was the MTN MobileMoney account which would cost a net R696 per year (some 780 percent higher than Capitec Bank’s).

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