Bank fees: Free accounts are becoming increasingly rare


Status: 08/16/2021 10:15 a.m.

If you are looking for a free current account, you will hardly find it. More and more often, banks are tying the free account to conditions. The experts from “Finanztest” were only able to track down 14 offers.

According to Stiftung Warentest, credit institutions are increasingly attaching conditions to free checking accounts. More and more accounts are only free if a certain amount of money goes into them every month, according to the current issue of the “Finanztest” magazine. “It is noticeable that fees are being increased, introduced or free accounts are linked to conditions, for example a monthly receipt of money,” said “Finanztest” expert Heike Nicodemus.

In evaluating 380 account models at a total of 152 banks and savings banks, the testers found only 14 accounts that were free of charge without any conditions. A year ago there were 20 free accounts.

70 percent market coverage

The Stiftung Warentest defines free as: no basic fee, no fee for account statements, bookings, girocard and when withdrawing money from machines in their own bank pool. Conditions such as regular receipt of money and salaries in a certain amount are also not allowed to be included in the overview.

The Stiftung Warentest, which operates a free website for comparing checking accounts on behalf of the state, evaluated the conditions of checking accounts valid until August 31st. All nationwide finance houses as well as direct and church banks, all Sparda and PSD banks as well as the largest savings banks and Volks- and Raiffeisenbanks in each federal state were examined. According to the information, they cover around 70 percent of the market.

Hidden information

In addition to the 14 free accounts, “Finanztest” has found another 90 accounts which, including Girocard and all bookings, do not cost more than 60 euros a year. From the point of view of the experts, they are cheap. “This is how much an account can cost, because the bank processes bookings, provides ATMs and secure technology for online banking,” says “Finanztest”.

Financial houses have been trying to increase fee income for years. Institutions are put under pressure by low interest rates. In addition, the financial institutions have to pay 0.5 percent negative interest when they park money with the European Central Bank. Even if there are now tax exemptions for certain sums, the industry is complaining of billions.

“In general, the credit institutions are turning various screws so that the increases are not so noticeable,” said the expert Nicodemus. Paper transfers would tend to be more expensive, as would credit cards. The problem is that the fee information is often very hidden on the institute’s website.

Customers can reclaim fees

The Federal Court of Justice recently set limits on fee increases insofar as banks have to obtain the consent of their customers in the event of changes to general terms and conditions. The court ruled in April that the clause, according to which financial institutions can assume tacit approval if customers do not object to a change within two months, disadvantageous customers inappropriately.

Credit institutions now have to ask customers to agree to the current fees in retrospect. In addition, bank customers can reclaim fees that institutes have charged without explicit consent – according to the initial assessment of the Stiftung Warentest retrospectively until at least January 1, 2018.

However, she expects that most institutions will not be allowed to repay the account fees voluntarily. Consumer advocates have already threatened to file a lawsuit in this case.

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Spectator49
August 16, 2021 • 11:48 am

I’ve had mine for 30 years

I’ve had my bank account with fully free direct banks for 30 years, and there are still plenty of them today. It must have paid off in the time, for example through custody fees and commissions when buying shares, etc. If I was inconsistent and went to cost-collecting banks, it always ended catastrophically, e.g. with those whose electronic banking was totally broken and who had a manual transfer fee of introduced two marks, or the one who accidentally carried out a collective collection twice (at 100+ companies) and banned me from the house due to a moderate complaint (they had to reverse everything). At the moment I could name three direct banks. I’m a customer of one of them. The other from the Sparkassenkreis couldn’t technically support my card reader and you need a cell phone. But I have no cell phone reception. The third was more geared towards investing. All are good for a long-term business relationship.



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