One of the hardest things about banking in Uganda is the fact that you have to pay banks to keep your money for you. As a young professional, it reaches a point where you’re basically losing money every month to bank fees and not seeing the utility out of it. While I do understand that having a bank account gives me access to future credit facilities from formal banking institutions, it shouldn’t really cost this much should it?
A current account is the bank account for carrying out your day-to-day transactions like cash withdrawals, bill & standing order payments, POS payments and online shopping. Basically, money is meant to come in and out as per your needs. This type of account doesn’t earn you as much interest as a savings account, if it offers any interest at all.
So to choose the best current account for your needs, the most important thing to consider is how much it’s going to cost you as a monthly expense, and then other factors for ease of banking based on your personal preferences.
The best current account to have is a zero fees account.
The best current account in Uganda, as of April 2020, is the Standard Chartered Digital Life account. The account is fully digital and comes with a VISA Gold debit card. It has no monthly fees whatsoever and no minimum balance limit. That means you get free withdrawals at ATMs, free money transfers within the bank, zero card charges and zero fees for online bill payments including Mobile Money. The bank does not charge you a monthly fee to keep the account active nor a closing fee to close out your account.
Standard Chartered Bank, through the Deposit Protection Fund of Uganda, also has one of the highest deposit protection amounts for clients, totaling to a max of 10 million UGX where most banks in Uganda only guarantee up to 3 million UGX should the bank ever go bankrupt. From a personal experience having had different accounts with the bank for more than 5 years, I can say that they have some of the best service around, too. I’ve never waited more than 5 minutes for service in the bank and the staff is always impeccable both in person and on the phone. The Digital Life account gets you access to all this, right from your phone.
It is important to note though that the bank puts emphasis on this being a digital account and they want you to carry out most of your transactions outside of the banking hall. Therefore, you’ll be charged for any over-the-counter withdrawals and for a cheque book if you require one. Also, Stanchart is not known for having branches and ATMs all over the country, so if you rely on cash withdrawals often it might be tiresome especially since some other banks in Uganda charge exorbitant amounts to use their ATMs even with Stanchart’s free withdrawals in place.
If you’re more comfortable with traditional banking, this might not be the account for you. But if you’re fully embracing the digital life (pun not intended, ha) and looking for ways to reduce your expenses, including your monthly banking expense, this just might be the account you’re looking for.
Of course, there’s a few other banks that offer similar account products, so feel free to let me know one you like that I should check out. What’s the bank you’re entrusting with your money as you’re starting out?
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