Hidden Bank Fees

-

I ran away from my ex-bank, although I still use its credit card.  I thought my new bank is perfect because it doesn’t charge me R117.16 for insufficient funds (R80) like my ex-bank.  Yes I didn’t have R80 for my internet account for some reason.  These things happen you know.  Money is here today, gone tomorrow. 

I don’t think my new bank is perfect anymore.  I changed my mind recently when I requested a bank statement and realised that they charge me forty cents when they send an SMS or text message about activity in my account like withdrawals and deposits.

It might look like a small amount but it adds up.  My new bank is a no-frills bank.  It doesn’t send monthly statements and it doesn’t have credit cards.  It doesn’t have foreign exchange and business accounts.  It doesn’t guillotine you for putting money into your account and for withdrawing it.  Call it a bank for the people.  I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I saw the manager of the post office I use regularly, leaving the bank.

Hidden bank fees

I was therefore disappointed when I discovered that my new bank has bad habits like major South African banks.  Why on earth does it charge me forty cents for sending an SMS about how much is remaining in my account?  The point is, banks offer you all these services but they don’t tell you that they come at a cost. 

Nobody told me about the forty cents when I opened the account.  This is highway robbery because most cellphone carriers offer us free text messages now.  They are at each other’s throats.  Thank god for competition.  That is why we get freebies like free SMS or text messages. 

Banks ignore all that and charge me forty cents for an SMS.  I must forget my intention to go to Toronto, Canada for CARIBANA at the end of July.  I don’t have enough for the airline tickets because so many forty cents are milked from my account every week.

Akukho soka lingenasici.  It literally means there is no lover without a blemish or weak point in my language isiZulu.  Nobody is perfect, but my new bank is still better that my ex-bank.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

No Air Miles

-
Image
I don’t have Air Miles.   I’m considering putting that on a T-Shirt because I cannot go to the drugstore (chemist) or coffee shop without the cashier asking me if I have air miles. We waited for about two minutes the other day, while this guy looked for his Air Miles card in his overweight wallet.   For what?   For a few points. I don’t have air miles because Mathematics is a foreign language.   I was never good in numbers. That is why I squashed the idea of being an investment banker very early in life.   I understand you can invest in cornfields before the soil is turned up or pork bellies even before a baby pig is born. That is how I view air miles, investing in tomorrow or the unknown.   I’m the dumb one.   Some people understand this air miles’ thing so well, I overheard one customer saying: I can even convert my points into cash. Points and air miles are the same thing in Canada and the U.S.   Drugstores or clothing stores even give you a card to collect point
Read more