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One of the most recurring questions when we commissioned this series on National Building Society (NBS) regards the types of accounts that individuals can open. The second question is which type of account makes one eligible to apply for a housing loan. (Check out the earlier articles here and here)
The answer to the second question is simple: all accounts you can open with NBS qualify you to apply for mortgage finance provided you meet all other requirements of course.
In brief, here are the four accounts you can open as an individual:
Easy Transact Account
This is the regular everyday account for unlimited access to your money. Of course in Zimbabwe right now access to your money does not necessarily mean withdrawing any amount of cash any time you want. You can however make payments using a Zimswitch debit card and ZIPIT
Access Save Account
This is a flexible savings account that permits several limited withdrawals. It is an interest bearing account with interest rates up to 1%.
Subscription Account
The Subscription Account is a savings account designed for people who are saving towards a specific goal for example a wedding or a child’s education. The account can also be used to save up for the mortgage loan deposit. Interest rates are up to 4.5% and withdrawals are not encouraged until specified investment period is met.
Seniors Account
This is a transaction account specially made for senior citizens over the age of 60. There are no service charges. The account permits access to pension backed loans. ‘Access to the funds’ is unlimited. Transactions can be done through Zimswitch and ZIPIT.
If you want to open any of these accounts to eventually get access to mortgage finance fill in this form
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has anyone actually been given a mortgage loan by these guys?
Yes they actually have
My biggest challenge with domestic banks is their inability to currently provide “unlimited access to your funds” by limiting cash withdrawals to currently $30/day – and one can queue for as long as 3 hours before getting this cash out. What they’re offering at best is unlimited access (if that) to your account NOT your funds. Funds they decide how much to “give” you. No wonder all banks are making huge profits. its not a reflection of ethical or professional banking but the crooked type which is now prevalent.
Yes banks are severely limiting cash withdrawals. The question though is: is this a problem with the banks or with the environment as influenced by the authorities? If the banks were unnecessarily refusing to give people cash the RBZ would have pounced on them but the RBZ can’t do that because they are (together with the government) the origin of the problem. I know of a bank that got $300 000 in Bond coins from the RBZ and another that got $1m to distribute whilst the central bank keeps hard currency and bond notes. Part of the reason is that RBZ thinks they can get rid of currency dealers off the streets by limiting the number of notes in circulation even if those notes are only bond notes. They will fail obviously but that is what they are trying.
Banks are posting profits because as long as people cannot withdraw they will use electronic channels to spend their money which allows banks to earn transaction fees. This is not a bad thing if it were demand driven as is happening in other markets were cash transactions are becoming less and less everyday. Unfortunately in our situation, people are going electronic because of a ‘cash crisis.’ Maybe we should embrace it and say no to cash even after the crisis as long as our currency in the banks is not ‘bonded.’ Perhaps just ditch them all and go bitcoin!
Half-baked article. I thought I was gonna read about the interest rate charged on the loan, tenure of the loan etc and compare with other banks. Most banks have those types of accounts..
This is a series of articles. If you follow links to previous articles you’ll see
Kwaa, now its a jigsaw puzzle…. musadaro.
Very true. I do not want to be going back and forth in order to get information which I deem the article should have based on the Title. VaNyahasha, you need to take stock of some of the feedback people give instead of being defensive (if you follow links…) whose got time for that?
Not defensive at all, thought I was pointing my reader to the information they are looking for. It’s an unfolding series and unfortunately placing links in the articles is the only way I can point backwards every time we write more on same subject otherwise it will be a very long article
Is there tax on the interest…. Audi is just too low considering the profits Banks are making…. If I deposit is 4.5 buy when they morgage it what are they charging…. Unfortunately based on current sentiment even though the idea is Noble…. Country is just too unstable for long term investment…. The answer to the cashless transactions is invalid because people are not withdrawing to spend but to cover to USD às a store of value…. Plus for my offshore account I’m not charged service fees and also local swipes free
When I used to work at a bank ages ago, Visa and Mastercard had a rule that there should not be a price distinction when making a payment. This meant that a shirt costing $20 should be charged for that amount regardless of payment method. Again during that time account-holders were respected – the teller would ask you how much you wanted to withdraw and your preferred denominations. Now the teller TELLS you “we are giving $30 today”. How times (and services) have changed….. and depositors stand in the same queue as those withdrawing. I don’t know if this can be described as “management” at all – a new epithet is required. Quite clearly utopia has been displaced by dystopia!!