“First National Bank’s (FNB) strategy of migrating customers to digital and electronic channels continues to pay dividends for the bank’s customers as monthly account fees will remain at previous levels on most accounts and free transactions remain in place,” said the bank on Thursday.
The bank further announced that the prices for their Easy, Gold, Encore Gold and Premier Bundle all remain the same as last year.
“The bank continues to offer free cash at till withdrawals, free inContact, free subscriptions to Online Banking, the FNB Banking App, and Cellphone banking, as well as free Cellphone banking mini-statements, and free FNB ATM, Cellphone Banking and Banking App balance enquiries,” stated FNB.
Lower banking charges
Pricing executive Jo-Ann du Plessis reiterated the bank’s dedication to offering low priced entry level full-service accounts with their Easy Account offering.
“Especially when customers consider they can conduct all their banking using our free transactions such as free card swipes, cash withdrawals at till-points, free internal debit orders and transfers as well as free EFTs into our accounts,” added du Plessis.
The Easy Bundle and Gold Unlimited customers were also not excluded as the bank stated that they would continue offering four free FNB ATM withdrawals monthly.
FNB has, in addition, simplified its ATM fees to aid in reducing customers’ monthly costs, especially those who withdraw small amounts like R100 and R200. “Small cash withdrawals are more popular among FNB’s Easy customers and they is seeking to reduce this cost which makes up the majority of the customers’ fees per month. This formed part of their streamlining of transactional accounts.
Simplifying the account offering
“We now offer two accounts, Easy and Gold, which significantly simplifies our entry and mid-level offerings. The Easy Account offers two pricing options for customers to choose from based on what will best suit their banking transactional behaviour; Pay as You Use for the low transactor and the Easy Bundle (previously the Smart Value Option) for the medium transactor,” du Plessis.
With the changes come the falling away of the Smart Transactional account. “Over 90% of this customer base will benefit from lower banking fees. For example the monthly account fee on the Smart pay-as-you-use option was R12.50 which will now become R4.95 for these customers, which is a 60% reduction in this fee alone,” FNB stated.
Changes
The bank has committed to keeping the following pricing the same for the next year.
- FNB Easy Account (Pay-As-You use option) R4.95, will experience no increase for two years.
- FNB Easy Account (Bundle Option) R49, at no increase for five years with added value.
- FNB Gold Account (unlimited qualifying electronic transactions) R100 which now includes unlimited prepaid airtime purchases, four free FNB ATM cash withdrawals as well as free ADT cash deposits to the value of R6000 per month, no increase for two years with added value.
- FNB Encore Gold Account (for customers over 55) R65, no increase for two years with added value.
- Premier Bundle Account R199, no increase for two years.
Du Plessis stated: “Our Easy Account at R4.95 is critical to a very large number of customers who are seeking access to full-service banking. We are still offering free card purchases, free cash withdrawals at till point free internal debit orders, free transfers and free EFTs into the account. During times when prices are rising and people are under pressure, lower priced accounts with full-transactional functionality become increasingly popular.”
Other reductions on the account include 50 c per R5 airtime purchased, where previously it was a flat rate of R1.10.
“Good news for the Easy customer base is the introduction of a cash back rewards system which is paid directly into a Linked Savings Account, attracting a competitive interest rate of 5.5% per annum on the first R20 000,” highlighted FNB.
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