Got some spare change?

Banks offer the service to comply with regulations.

- Liesl Peyper

South Africans who want to conduct cashfor-cash transactions at retail banks will not get this necessarily service free of charge, as a Moneyweb reader recently found out. Cash-for-cash transactions are when clients request lower denomination bank notes, or coins, for a specific amount.

The reader e-mailed, saying she recently went into a Standard Bank branch for a cash-for-cash transaction at the teller. Much to her dismay, she was told she would be charged a handling fee for the service.

"I requested to exchange the R450 cash I had in my purse for R20 notes. Then, the teller asked me if I knew I had to pay for this service. He calculated the fee [based on the R450] and told me it would cost R235.

"I was speechless. Needless to say, I left without the change."

Standard Bank confirmed in an e-mail that it does indeed charge a fee for cash-for-cash transactions.

"The fee is based on the cost of providing the service to clients, including the cost of providing lower denomination banknotes and coins in a branch."

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