Banks are charging fees to cover the costs of processing ATM withdrawals declined because of insufficient funds, the daily limit being exceeded or customers forgetting their PIN.
The latest round of Standard Bank fee increases sees a new charge being slapped on to customers: a denied-transaction fee.
From the beginning of this year, Standard Bank customers have been charged R2.50 to be told that there are insufficient funds to withdraw cash at an automatic teller machine (ATM).
Iain Robertson, a Personal Finance reader in Durban, says this new fee adds insult to injury.
"Service levels continue to fall, fees continue to increase inexorably. Rolls Royce charges, cheap saloon car service. What's next, putting money in a coin slot fitted to the airlocks before you are allowed into the bank?
"Is there no end to the grasping rapacity of our banks?" he asks.
However, Standard Bank is not the only bank to charge a fee for a denied ATM transaction - it is merely the latest bank to introduce the fee and at a higher level than most banks are currently charging.
Research done by Bankmonitor, an online provider of comparative banking and other financial information, shows that Cape of Good Hope, First National Bank (FNB), Nedbank, Permanent Bank, Peoples Bank, Pep Bank, Saambou and Pick 'n Pay's Go Banking all charge a denied ATM transaction fee on their cheque and savings accounts.
The lowest denied ATM transaction fee of R1.10 is charged by Pep Bank, while Standard and Saambou share the dubious honour of topping the list with the most expensive fee at R2.50.
Only Absa, BoE Bank and Mercantile currently do not charge such a fee.
The irksome thing about a denied ATM fee is that ordinary customers may be hit with the fee simply because they have misjudged the amount of money in their accounts. You are charged the fee even if you try to withdraw one cent less than you have available in your account.
Gus Warwick, the director of banking and operations at Standard Bank, defends the introduction of the declined transaction fee, saying there are high costs associated with maintaining an extensive ATM network.
Although the bank carries some of these costs, it needs to pass some of them on to its customers in the form of charges to ensure that the ATM operation is profitable. A declined transaction still carries a processing cost even though no cash is dispensed.
In the past, the costs for declined ATM cash withdrawals were carried by ATM customers with funds in their account. In order to make these charges more equitable, the bank introduced a R2.50 declined ATM cash withdrawal fee in June last year for Standard Bank customers using other banks' ATM machines (Saswitch).
This fee was extended to Standard Bank's own network on January 1 this year. Its introduction was communicated to customers through ATM screen messages, branch merchandising and press advertisements.
Warwick advises customers to check your balance first - this is free at Standard Bank ATMs - before trying to withdraw more cash than your balance allows.
"We are quite satisfied that this fee is justified and fair to customers since checking the balance is free."
Ann Bramhill, a spokesperson for FNB, says each transaction performed via an ATM - whether successful or not - incurs the same basic processing costs.
FNB provides details of the last six transactions plus the available balance free on each transaction slip for withdrawals. Customers should plan to keep the latest withdrawal transaction slip with their ATM card and consult it before making a withdrawal, if they are unsure of the amount available in their account.
Martin Pienaar, a spokesperson for Nedcor, says Nedcor charges a denied ATM transaction fee because at some machines up to 60 percent of transactions are declined.
On average, 10 to 15 percent of transactions are declined because the account has insufficient funds, the daily withdrawal limit is exceeded or because customers forget their personal identification numbers (PIN).
But, he says, if you try to draw more than is available in your account, the ATM will tell you and it will tell you how much money is available to you.