If you ever wondered how much you are really paying in bank charges, the Bank of Namibia (BoN) has released a study on bank charges of selected transactional services on the Basic Bank Account for eight banking institutions in Namibia as of 30 September 2022 and it sheds some light on how much Namibians are really paying for various products and services offered.
Debit card purchases at POS
FNB Namibia, according to the BoN study, was found to offer debit card purchase at POS free of charge, followed by Bank BIC at N$3.00 per transaction and Letshego Bank Namibia at N$4.00 per transaction.
Bank Windhoek on the other hand levied the highest fee for debit card purchase at POS devices in the report at N$5.19 per transaction.
Airtime and electricity purchases
Bank BIC was found to be the only bank that offers the purchasing of airtime and electricity and prepaid services free of charge.
Bank Windhoek offers the purchasing of airtime free of charge, while Letshego Bank Namibia, Nedbank Namibia, and Standard Bank Namibia offer the purchasing of electricity services free of charge.
“FNB, on the other hand, is the only bank that charges a fee for all three services, i.e., purchasing of airtime, electricity, and other prepaid services.”
Digital wallet services
In terms of Cash Out, Bank Windhoek through its Easy Wallet and FNB through its Ewallet, offer the first daily transaction for free, and thereafter FNB charges N$13.00 per transaction while Bank Windhoek charges N$11.13 per transaction, while Standard Bank for its Blue Wallet offers Cash Out service free of charge.
“While the Letshego Bank Namibia does not have a digital wallet, it offers the Send Money facility through SBN [Standard Bank Namibia] infrastructure, and it charges N$5.00 per transaction. When making payments using FNB digital wallet services, customers are expected to pay N$2.50 for purchasing airtime and N$1.05 for buying electricity. SBN and BWK [Bank Windhoek] offer the service to make purchases through their digital wallets free of charge.”
Interbank stop order payment
Bank Windhoek, according to the central bank findings, has the highest interbank stop order payment fee at N$34.27 per transaction in the country, followed by Standard Bank at N$29.50, and Nedbank Namibia at N$28 per transaction, respectively.
Bank BIC and NamPost record the lowest fee for stop order payments at N$10.00 per transaction each, the BoN report has shown.
Card replacement fee
Letshego Bank Namibia and NamPost were found to have the lowest card replacement fees in Namibia at N$120.00 per card replacement each, according to BoN, while Bank BIC charges N$150, and FNB Namibia charges N$159.14 per card replacement, respectively.
Debit order payments to third party accounts
All debit order payments to third party accounts fees are determined regardless of the value of the transaction according to BoN findings, with the highest fee recorded by FNB Namibia and Standard Bank Namibia, where both banks charge N$29.50 per transaction, followed by Nedbank Namibia at N$28.00 per transaction, and Letshego Bank Namibia at N$15.00 per transaction, respectively.
Bank BIC offers debit order payment to third party services free of charge.
Internet banking payment
Bank Windhoek, according to the BoN study, charges the highest internet banking payment fees (interbank) at N$14.47 per transaction, followed by Nedbank Namibia at N$13.00 per transaction.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments processed via the Nampay stream, near-real-time-credit (NRTC), which is also the instant payment component, show that Bank Windhoek levied the highest charges per transaction at N$46.02, followed by Nedbank Namibia at N$32.90, and FNB Namibia at N$30.00.
Through Nampay, enhanced credit stream payments attract lower charges in comparison to the NRTC stream payments across all banking institutions according to BoN, with Atlantico Bank Namibia charging the highest fee for ENCR payments at N$23.00 per transaction, followed by Bank Windhoek at N$14.47 and Standard Bank at N$13.00 per transaction.
