A bank account with zero fees —Bothebelele Account

In 2022, the Central Bank of Lesotho instructed banks to offer a type of bank account with zero fees as a way of promoting the inclusion of all income earners in the financial system. This account is called the Bothebelele Account.

Many people in Lesotho avoid opening bank accounts because they believe the fees are too high, so this account was designed for individuals earning less than M3,000 per month to help them avoid those costs. It is offered by local commercial banks, including FNB Lesotho, Standard Lesotho Bank, Nedbank Lesotho, and Lesotho Post Bank.

I can’t say much about the account since I haven’t personally used it; however, I’d like to share some insights based on what I’ve heard from account holders and from pricing guides. Firstly, this initiative is quite brilliant because it aims to attract people who had never considered opening a bank account. For example, I used to help my adult neighbors send money to their recipients using my bank account, so maybe this account could help them. But like any other product, though, it has its own drawbacks as well as certain advantages.

The most obvious perk of this account is its low fees, but from a certain point of view, this can be debated. It has no maintenance fees, the monthly charges usually paid by all account holders. It also supposedly has no deposit fees and allows one free ATM withdrawal per month. While these may seem like advantages, I find them debatable because the account is very limiting, making it questionable whether those perks are truly worth it. The account strictly allows a maximum income of M3,000 per month, which means account holders cannot keep more of their money in it and must look for alternative places to store it. Another drawback is that the account does not allow online purchases, making it impossible to buy online (although I haven’t fact-checked this, one account holder mentioned it). These two disadvantages alone are enough to question whether the benefits outweigh the limitations, especially since there are other affordable accounts without such restrictions.

For more information about this type of account, you can visit any of the four banks or simply search for each bank’s latest pricing guide online.