Bank rates are up 2.5% to 3% this year. An increase which varies according to consumer profiles, with the largest being slightly less affected. Furthermore, banking incidents represent a third of the fees collected by establishments.
It is the “small consumers” who suffer
These are “small consumers”, with a set of basic services (account maintenance fees, immediate debit card, etc.) and so-called average consumers (two holders each with a card with loss and theft insurance). , a bank check every 10 years…) which suffer the highest inflation, of 2.97% and 3% respectively. Their annual bank charges, applied for the most part since January 1, increase this year to 66.23 euros for the first profile and 147.80 euros for the second.
“Heavy consumers” within the meaning of CLCV, that is to say two holders with a Gold or Premier card, insurance against loss and theft or even numerous withdrawals, will see their bill increase by 2.52%. to 207.65 euros in 2024. Estimated inflation in France was 3.7% over one year in December, according to INSEE.
The authors of the study state that these increases “are essentially due to changes in account maintenance fees (+3%), the cost of bank cards […] and the increase in package prices”, these bundles of services deemed to be of little benefit to the customer. The CLCV also points to “changes made by certain establishments to the rules applicable to withdrawals from ATMs”, such as increasing the cost of withdrawals made in another network and lowering the number of free withdrawals.
Expensive incident fees
The CLCV examined the price lists of around a hundred establishments, including BNP Paribas, SG and the regional banks of Crédit Agricole and the BPCE networks. This year’s increases are higher than those observed in 2022 (more than 2.5% for “small” and “medium” consumer profiles) and in 2023 (almost stable for everyone).
The average amounts calculated by CLCV do not include any banking incidents. However, for negligent customers or those in financial difficulty, these can amount to hundreds of euros per year. The Panorabanques comparator, which includes these fees in its calculations, concluded last year that banking incident fees represented on average a third of total banking fees. According to them, the annual average of total bank fees (all types of consumers combined, with incident fees) amounted to 220.60 euros last year, which is more than the “large consumer” profile of CLCV.