Less than three months after other banks raised their fees, consumers are set to pay more to use the services of First Global Bank Limited (FGB) and VM Building Society (VMBS), which are set to raise fees in the coming weeks.

FGB will raise several fees across the board between 5-10 per cent on September 22. This fee increase will affect the cost of transfers and other account-related fees with the online options mostly increasing by five per cent while in-branch options rising by 10 per cent.

One fee increase will be the adjustment of the in-branch RTGS (real time gross settlement) fee for seniors from $2,000 to $2,200, a 10 per cent increase, while the online RTGS transfer will rise five per cent from $275 to $288.75. The regular RTGS fees for other accounts will remain unchanged. FGB’s fees presentation always shows the difference between doing some transactions between in-branch and online.

Another fee that will go up is the outgoing wire transfer amounts which are set to increase between 5-10 per cent for both in branch and online options. Thus, the outgoing wire transfer fee in-branch will increase from US$45 to US$49.50 while the online outgoing wire transfer fee will increase from US$35 to US$36.75. This increase applies to all other outgoing wire transfers in other foreign currencies while the JMD figure will remain the same. Both the JMD and foreign currency fees for incoming wire transfers will also be going up in less than two weeks.

Online ACH (automated clearing house) transfers, managers cheques, standing order (PAP) initiation fee, cheque encashment, chequing and overdraft fees on current accounts, customised cheque leaves and stop payment orders — (PAP cheques only) on current accounts, cash handling fees, bills for collection, withdrawal fees and replacement cards for visa debit cards, miscellaneous charges, credit card fees and other credit fees will all have some degree of adjustments on September 22.

FGB will also introduce a $11 point-of-sale (POS) fee for FGB Visa debit cards that use FGB touch point machines and non-FGB POS machines for the first time.

VMBS will increase their fees on September 19, their second fee adjustment this year after the February 1 adjustment. VMBS had last adjusted its fees in May 2023.

The outgoing RTGS fee to other banks will also rise by 25 per cent from $160 to $200. VMBS will also be levying an 86 per cent increase on withdrawals at non-VMBS ABMs (automated banking machines) from $51.50 to $83.50 plus GCT (General Consumption Tax) which brings the new fee to $96.03. The sharp jump in withdrawal fees at non-VM ABMs comes a year after the attacks on the cash courier companies.

JN Bank Limited and Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited (SBJ) also adjusted their fee schedules on July 22 and July 18, respectively. FirstCaribbean International Bank (Jamaica) Limited, a subsidiary of CIBC Caribbean Bank Limited, adjusted its fees on May 31 while JMMB Bank (Jamaica) Limited adjusted its fees on February 1. National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCBJ) and the Bank of Nova Scotia (Jamaica) Limited (BNSJ) adjusted their fees on November 1, 2023.