South Africa’s infamous zero-fee bank has announced that it’s dropping its ‘waiting list’ sign-up method — which means anyone can sign up to Bank Zero from now onwards. It’s sweetening the deal even more by keeping its fee structure static going into 2022.
In August, the bank headed by ex-FNB exec Micheal Jordaan announced that it was open for public sign-ups, but it was limiting ‘em to make sure it was able to scale according to capacity. The all-digital bank was slated to launch in 2019, but that launch was affected by a slew of events out of everyone’s control. Y’know, like the pandemic we’re all enduring.
The bank features no monthly fees, while simultaneously not charging fees for electronic payments, debit orders, card swipes, and even when buying prepaid airtime, data, or electricity. According to MoneyWeb, the bank was overwhelmed by the number of users making use of that last one.
“The bank says the purchasing of prepaid items is increasing at a fast pace, exceeding all of its forecasts. The fact that these transactions attract no fees certainly helps,” MoneyWeb reports.
Bank Zero only really charges fees for instances where it has third-party costs to cover. This includes things like withdrawing cash at Shoprite or Checkers tills, at ATMs, or sending money to non-Bank Zero customers.
Go ahead, try Bank Zero
One of the cool features is that Bank Zero allows for card personalisation for an additional R80 — after which your card is shipped to a Clicks store at no additional charge. You can also have a personalised card delivered to a street address (i.e. your home) will cost you R140 or R180 depending on your region.
It also features value-added services that are completely optional — those you’ll pay for. If you want to open a checking account, it’ll run you R100. Requesting statements cost R10 per statement and when you dispute a debit order you’ll pay R8.
The fledgling bank offers an impressive pricing structure across all of its products, but it’ll be interesting to see how it manages to keep its costs low at scale. All while keeping up with major banks and new entries that are bound to enter the market. Anyone can sign up for a Bank Zero account here now.
