Bidvest Bank’s offering is perfect both for the young and old.

Grandparents often want to open a bank account for their grandchildren to encourage them to save. The problem with many existing products is that there is always a monthly bank fee that eats into the children’s savings. While perhaps a good lesson in the cost of banking, it hardly encourages children to save their pocket and birthday money in the bank.

Bidvest Bank has removed its R15 monthly account fee for all customers under the age of 21 and pensioners pay no transactional charges at all which makes it a very attractive offer for both grandparents and their grandchildren.

Kids Banking

Parents who want to instill a sense of financial discipline in their children can for example open a Bidvest Bank account for their teenager and deposit enough money each month to cover their entertainment and even basic living requirements such as money for clothes and toiletries. With no monthly fee and no charge for transactions at the till-point the teenager can manage their own money at no cost.

The account can also be used to save birthday money and pocket money as the minimum amount to open the account is R50 and it pays out some interest, although limited.

The account does have fees for debit orders and ATM withdrawals but if used as a basic transaction account to buy items using the card it is very cost effective. Cash withdrawals can become expensive as Bidvest Bank has a very limited number of own ATM’s, only 52 across the country, and customers have to rely on other bank’s ATM’s which are more expensive. Customers can reduce their withdrawal costs by drawing money for R2 at major retailers such as Pick ‘n Pay and Checkers, however if they use another bank’s ATM it would cost around R11.50 to withdraw R500 for example.

Pensioner Banking

Bidvest Bank has waived all fees for customers over the age of 65. This really means free banking, even if the customer withdraws cash from a non-Bidvest ATM.   The only time fees will be charged is a penalty fee of R10 if a debit order is returned or for over-the-counter transactions as opposed to ATM or internet banking.

Bidvest Bank also offers excellent deposit rates. For example their 121 day notice account pays an effective interest rate of 6.5%, so a pensioner could keep their savings in the 121 day notice account and have the interest paid into their no cost bank account.

Ordinary Banking

For customers between the ages of 21 and 65 years old, Bidvest Bank has capped the fees at R72 per month. This means that no matter how much banking you do your fees will never exceed R72. As it is a basic pay-as-you use bank account if you only do a few transactions a month, your banking fees could be lower. While not as competitive as Capitec for low transactional users, for those customers who make frequent transactions every month, this bank account could save you a significant amount of money.

The downside is that Bidvest Branches are fairly limited with only 52 across the country and is only found in major retail centres. However if a Bidvest branch is within reasonable distance and you want to open an account for your children or as a pensioner, this is definitely an account to consider.

This article first appeared in City Press