Clients of financial institutions JMMB and Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) may find themselves paying more for some bank services, including cash withdrawals, come February 1, 2024.

In an advisory sent out earlier this week, both institutions said that following a routine review of their fees, they will be adjusting some bank charges to respond to changes within the market and internal operations.

The adjustments to the fee structure mean that clients of the financial institutions will see increases for some existing charges, while in other cases, the institutions have added new charges.

In addition to raising fees on day-to-day transactions such as in-branch cash withdrawals and in-branch transfers between own accounts and third-party accounts, VMBS has also added a bunch of new fees in the categories of business services and mortgage loan processing.

The institution has doubled the charge on services such as inspection fees for construction loans and the refinancing of mortgages by other financial institutions. Processing fees for services such as home equity loans and construction loans will move up by 1 per cent on the loan amount; while micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) operators that use the business property as security will have to pay a new charge of 2.50 per to 3.75 per cent on the loan amount.

VMBS is also pushing some of the cost it has to absorb on business clients.

In the updated fee structure, the institution has doubled the charge on issuance of letters of undertaking for motor vehicle, land and house purchases from $7,000 to $15,000. It has also added a new charge of $15,000 for late submission of financial statements for the annual review of corporate and commercial loans and has also created a new fee for late payments made on loans issued under the Development Bank Jamaica’s Credit Enhancement Facility.

“The updates have been made to reflect changes in the market and to ensure that we can continue to provide the high level of service you expect from us. These revisions also include a reduction of some of our current fees,” VMBS said in its notice to clients.

The institution is also encouraging clients to take advantage of reduced and/or no fees on some of its services in-branch cash withdrawals and transferring between own accounts and third-party accounts, by opting to use the VM Express online banking service or its 32 iABMs islandwide.

Meanwhile, JMMB said that coming out of its recent review, it has “only added three new fees”, all of which were done “in alignment with the guiding principle of fairness in how fees are set”, its core value of love and having the client’s best interest at heart.

The bank added that while it will not charge clients “nuisance fees” and will waive fees when it falls short on service delivery; it will implement charges for cost recovery and value-added services.

Effective February 1, the bank will begin charging clients a fee of $25 on the fifth or more withdrawals made by a client within a month.

“Note that we will continue to subsidise the full cost of the first four withdrawals made each month from a JMMB Bank ATM,” it said.

A fee of $60 will also be charged for each withdrawal made at any non-JMMB Bank ATM. Additionally, a fee of $12 will be charged for transactions conducted with JMMB Bank Visa card at point-of-sale machines islandwide.

It has also raised the charges on some fees including cash deposits made in foreign currency, deposits made in excess of JA$1 million, incoming RTGS or real time transfers and outgoing transfers. Currently, the bank charges a fee of $70 for incoming and outgoing RTGS transfers but will push those costs up to $100 and $155 respectively come February 1. The charges for manager’s cheques, draft requests and services have also moved up significantly. For example, the cost for stop payment/ recalled cheques at client’s request (foreign) will move from $1500 plus other bank charges to $5,500, while the cost for foreign drafts drawn down on Citibank or the Bank of New York will move from JA$900 to JA$1,500.

JMMB will also increase the charge for embassy letters, certification of account balance, statement balance and special letters up from $1,545 each to $2,596.48 next year.

“As always, we remain grateful that you continue to choose us as your trusted partner along your financial journey,” JMMB said.

The fee increases come amid the recent decision by the Bank of Jamaica’s (BOJ) Monetary Policy Committee to hold the policy interest rate – which is the rate offered to deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) on overnight placements with the BOJ – at 7.0 per cent.