Could you be paying service fees on cards you or your partner have not used for years?

Are you unwittingly paying service fees on a garage card or extra credit cards which you haven't used in years, or your partner hasn’t?

Consumer ninja Wendy Knowler puts this banking pitfall under the spotlight after hearing the horror story of one Standard Bank client.

Louise recently discovered that the bank had been charging her service fees for three additional cards which she says she had no knowledge of, as far back as 2005!

Last month she went into a Durban branch to ask about those fees reflecting on her credit card statement.

"The fees were not linked to a particular card number; they were only identified as service fees."

"'I got put through to the card division,' she said, 'where someone looked into my account and informed me that the fees were for two garage cards and one secondary credit card...'

Wendy Knowler, Consumer Journalist

None of the cards had been used for at least the last 12 years.

One was in her ex-husband's name and had been issued way back in 1995.

What these unused cards had cost Louise over the years, even if calculated only back to 2010, amounted to almost R37 500, she said.

Standard Bank did offer her a refund, but the settlement amount was just R3 393 - 50% of the fees for the last 3 years.

This was because 'any claims prior have been prescribed', Louise reported.

She has been advised to take her case to the National Financial Ombud Scheme, which the banking ombud is now part of.

"I think it's entirely probable that many people have these cards that have never been cancelled and that they're paying fees on, that don't leap out at them as these redundant cards... because it doesn't specify, for instance, garage card."

Wendy Knowler, Consumer Journalist