Did you know that Banks chew your money like this?

Before joining any bank, it is important to look around and find a bank that offers the best deal for the services offered.

Some of the fees are deducted automatically by your bank, unlike a cash withdrawal or deposit that may give a customer instant notifications regarding activity on the account.

Banks make money primarily in two ways; fees and commissions and also earn income from interest charged after lending out money to borrowers. The fees and commission come from the fees banks place on customers.

These may include; minimum balance fees, ATM withdrawal charges, overdraft fees, foreign transaction fees, interim statement fees among others.

Quarterly, the industry regulator, Bank of Uganda releases the interest and bank charges report in the press indicating the fees consumers are charged on personal accounts. The report aims to promote transparency in the provision of banking services to the public.

These charges vary across the board according to a detailed tariff guide from the financial institutions. Some of the fees could be something to avoid or minimize the cost of your saved money if you know where to look.

Balance inquiry

Banks slap a charge every time you check how much you hold on your account. The charge also varies depending on the account type you are operating (current or savings account) and the platform you are using.

Centenary Bank charges sh600 per transaction on the CenteMobile application for a customer inquiring about their account balance.

The same charge applies when you use the Agent Banking platform. The bank also has a sh500 monthly charge for using the CenteMobile application.

Other banks such as Equity, DFCU offer the service for free, according to their tariff guides.

According to Centenary, the charges are meant to ‘cover the cost of running the service, pay our ecosystem partners costs’ as they test the new technology.

‘New technologies come with a lot of responsibility for customer security of funds and uptime that call for different pricing depending on customer profiles and adoption timelines of new technologies,’ the bank said in a statement.

At the automated teller machines (ATMs), Equity Bank and KCB will charge you sh300 per print to know your account balance.

NCBA charges sh500 for inquiring about your balance on the mobile banking platform whereas DFCU says it doesn’t levy a charge.

Meanwhile, if you are withdrawing money at the ATM, bank charges across the sector range between sh660 to sh1,200 per withdrawal. This means the more time you visit the ATMs, the more money you pay your bank for the service.

However, you nearly pay double the price for withdrawing the same amount of cash over the Interswitch network.

Statement fee

Looking into your statement will help you know the charges applied on your account by your bank. But this too comes at a cost. For most banks, they would offer this service free of charge if you prefer an electronic statement mailed to you.

However, those who prefer a physical paper statement will face a charge on the account. For an interim statement, you may pay between sh3,500 to sh10,000 per page for a printout.

Account maintenance fee

Banks also charge a monthly maintenance fee also known as a monthly service fee. The fee is usually deducted monthly from your account and it varies from bank to bank and account type.

Monthly account maintenance fees range between sh5,000 to sh100,000.

On its current accounts, DFCU fees range between sh4,000 to sh36,000. On the savings account, it’s about sh3,500. Standard Chartered Bank waives its sh20,000 monthly charge if a customer maintains sh500,000 on the account.

However, some banks such as Equity show that they do not charge maintenance fees.

Excess withdraw

If you are holding money in a savings account, banks have a limited amount they require you to hold. If you withdraw below that limit, your bank will charge you a fee.

On the savings account, Absa Bank will charge you sh15,000, Bank of Africa will deduct sh22,000, DFCU sh16,000, Standard Chartered Bank will cut sh20,000.

Closing account

If you are contemplating closing your account for one reason or the other, there is a fee for that as well. Some banks charge up to sh20,000 for closing your account.