After my previous post on saving money, I was talking to a friend of mine about it, and he asked which bank I was with. I proudly stated: “ABSA. I dig them.”. He gave a little snigger and proclaimed that I was being ripped off. He was a Standard Bank customer and did his research on pricing etc, and they came out tops. If Standard Bank is the Reserve Bank’s bank, then they got to be doing something right?

I then asked myself, why am I a ABSA bank customer? I mean, why ABSA? Why not some other bank? There products arent any different from any other bank. They charge more or less the same price for banking(or alot more in DEF’s view). I started as an Allied customer way back when I was about 8 years old. They gave me this blue piggy bank that I religiously used to put all my loose change into, and ever since then, I’m guessing I have had that “saving” mentality. Allied joined forces with Trustbank, United Bank and Volkskas Bank to form ABSA, the red giant that we all know today. I say red because I, myself love all things red, Ferrari motorcars, Ferrari F1, strawberry jam, Vodaphone(Vodacom rocks, thats why I dig them…) and my red adidas t-shirt. The only thing I dont like red are red football teams :-). So ABSA just being red, means I’m already biased.

I dont like getting ripped off, but I also dont mind paying the price for something that I deem to be of value, and I feel that ABSA do deliver on service as well as products. One product that beats all other banks hands down is their internet banking portal. From ease of use to functionality and features. A couple of my collegues have said they wish their internet banking had this or that. I proudly tell them, ABSA has it already.As for their online shopping portal, where you shop on the internet with a virtual credit card number linked to your credit card, ABSA really have me hooked. So no company on the internet will ever have my CC number. And it generates a new number for every purchase I make. No other bank in South Africa offers a product like it. So a thumbs-up for that, ABSA.

Looking at Standard Banks fees, they are cheaper than ABSA, and offer a wider variety of products. But do I really want to make a switch? Ill save some money on transaction charges with Standard Bank, but for me, thats all Ill get out of it. Ill have to change ATM’s, and ABSA do have the largest ATM network. That also means changing my driving habits. Ill also have to change where I do banking, change my internet banking, change everything. And to change something just for the sake of changing isnt always a good thing.

So, in conclusion, I dont want to change banks. I dont mind paying alittle more. But I like red, and I like ABSA.

In related news, two articles on news24 about banking charges. (BTW Def, theres not much mention about ABSA. hehe)