Kicking off on 1 July, First National Bank (FNB) will no longer charge for card purchases on a number of their accounts and will also reduce fees by up to as much as 11% in certain cases. Click through for the full breakdown.

Beginning next month, FNB will stop charging personal customers for credit and debit card purchases who are on FNB Easyplan, Smart Accounts, Gold and Platinum Cheque Accounts. Previously this luxury was only available to customers on their unlimited or mobile pricing options and other customers were paying R2.75 per transaction. Collectively, this added up to R76 million generated from over 230 million swipes.

The bank’s Smart Gold Unlimited Account fees will be reduced by 11%, dropping to R49 per month.

“The R49/month fee includes free access to all of FNB’s electronic channels (including the FNB App), unlimited card and electronic transactions and six FNB ATM withdrawals per month.”

They are also trying to discourage cash withdrawals, and will limit these to only six per month. However, fees can be avoided by swiping at select outlets.

FNB CEO elaborated on the bank’s fees,

“In reality, a customer’s experience of bank charges can differ depending how they transact. Two South African annual bank fee comparisons are undertaken and consumer reports are published as a result. According to the typical basket of banking transactions used by Solidarity, FNB’s Easyplan fees will drop by 28% and FNB Smart Transmission Account Fees will drop by 9%. According to the basket of transactions and products used in the Finweek report, a typical FNB Gold client will see a reduction in banking costs of 3%,”

To view a full breakdown of their new pricing, view their online brochure.

[Source: Moneyweb]