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Telephone banking is inexpensive, safe and convenient - all you need is a telephone and your account details and you can do your banking 24 hours a day.
Most banks also offer you the option of dealing with a consultant over the phone as opposed to the "do-it-yourself" option, where an electronic voice gives you a list of transactions and you choose the one you want by pressing a number key on your telephone.
A comparison of transaction costs shows that Nedbank, Mercantile, Absa, First National Bank (FNB) and Permanent charge a monthly service fee. In the case of Absa and FNB, you do not pay extra for telephone banking if you are already registered for internet banking.
Of the six banks, FNB is the most expensive, with a monthly service fee of R22.80, while NBS and Standard Bank do not charge a monthly service fee.
At Absa, you have the choice of banking over the telephone via the electronic method or you can speak to a consultant, who will assist you with your transactions. But you are charged slightly more for this convenience.
Balance inquiries over the telephone are generally free. However, at Absa if you ask a consultant about your balance you will be charged R0.70.
In the case of transferring money between linked accounts (at the same bank), Standard Bank charges the most - R3.50 - for every transfer from its transmission account. NBS offers this service for free. Transfers at Nedbank are also free, provided you maintain an average balance of R4 000 or more in your account in the month. A transmission account is a simple transaction account which does not offer the facility of a cheque book.
Account payments generally cost more than transfers because they involve transferring money from your account to an account at another bank or into someone else's bank account.
Absa, FNB, Mercantile and NBS charge a flat fee for account payments, while Nedbank, Permanent Bank and Standard charge a sliding scale fee. The effect of a sliding scale fee is that the higher the transaction amount, the higher the fee you are charged.
At Nedbank and Permanent Bank, you are charged 50 percent of your usual service fee to make account payments from a cheque account. The service fee is open to negotiation with your bank. On a basic cheque account package, the service fee at Nedbank is R3.20/ R1.40/R19 and at Permanent Bank it is R3.30/R1.50/R19.
At Standard Bank, the charge for account payments depends on the bank account from which you are making the payment. There is a different fee structure for a cheque account, a credit card and a transmission account.