Investec fees go up from R175 to R250 per month... bye bye Investec Private Bank

From 1st Aug 2009 the monthly fees will go up. I think it's time (for me) to move to a lower fees bank - granted, the Investec service is very good, and there are lots of things bundled in, but I think I'm a low usage client (monthly count: Debit orders: less than 8, EFT payments: less than 10, Withdrawals: less than 5, Deposits less than 5)

Also, I'm not using a lot of the bundled in services and products.

I've looked at Capitec and FNB.

See here for Capitec's fees

See here for FNB's fees

See www.thinkmoney.co.za and www.bankmonitor.co.za for an extensive list of accounts comparison tools and calculators.

I like Capitec's fees, but there are too few Capitec ATMs and branches for me to be comfortable. This will push my fees up.

I like the FNB "Unlimited Option" - but it does have "limits".... but I will make an effort to get to know them.
So, for R89 per month, I can save a bit... ummm, that's R161 less per month, that's R1,932 per annum. Less the "noted" items below - I guess, I'll save R1,400 per annum (or R117 per month):

Things that I need to watch out for:

• Card replacement fee R55 - OK, noted... I haven't lost a card (yet)
• R50 for a bank guaranteed cheque - OK, noted
• R25 for a stop payment - OK, noted
• 85c per SMS notification - OK, noted
• International ATM withdrawal: R25 - OK, noted
• Debit interest rate: Investec Card is 10%; DiscoveryCard interest rate is 28.7%.
• No free access to airport lounge
• Balance alerts and payment notifications are charged for @ FNB
• Make sure I use FNB ATMs for deposits and withdrawals - OK, noted.
• FNB petrol card comes with built in AA roadside assistance :) - I need to verify this.
• Overdraft facility: @ FNB there's a monthly fee of R15.50 (estimated) - I won't take this.
• In-branch fees are high: this includes payments, withdrawals and deposits (rather use FNB ATMs)

See here for comments to MoneyWeb's article "Investec fees up 67% in three years" - interesting reading ;)

Vote in the MoneyWeb poll: Investec fees are: Extravagant, or Just right, or Low.

Come on Investec, focus on making your money from true banking business, and do not become like the other banks and rely on bank charges.

Let me know if I'm missing the boat - before I redirect my salary and debit orders to my FNB account!

Update on 14 July 2009:
FNB have just updated their Fees Calculator, click here to launch their fees calculator
I have used SnagIt in text capture mode to retrieve all my beneficiaries' banking details. I pasted them into a text file, then I can paste them into the new beneficiaries in FNB.
Open an FNB account: click here

Also, if you have an Investec HomeLoan that you want to keep (better interest rate maybe), then you can keep that open for a monthly service fee of R30.00