Status: 08/16/2022 09:29 am
Bank accounts without a basic fee and without costs when withdrawing money are now a rarity in Germany. The banks are asking more and more money for their offers, as a recent study shows.
Only a few banks and savings banks still offer current accounts free of charge without any conditions. This is the result of a recent survey by the magazine “Finanztest”, which belongs to Stiftung Warentest. Current accounts with low basic fees are also becoming rarer.
The testers checked a total of 432 account models from 165 banks and savings banks. Of these, only twelve salary or pension accounts were free without any conditions. A year ago there were 14.
60 euros per year are still “cheap”
Stiftung Warentest defines accounts as free where no basic fee is charged and where account statements, bookings, the Girocard and withdrawing money from ATMs in the bank’s own pool are possible without fees. In addition, there must be no conditions, such as a regular receipt of money and salary in a certain amount.
The number of “cheap” accounts is also declining – it fell from 77 to 67. This includes Finanztest accounts whose basic fee is a maximum of 60 euros per year. The most expensive evaluated account management costs 360 euros per year.
Fees often also for the Girocard
Stiftung Warentest, which currently operates a free website for checking current accounts on behalf of the state, evaluated the conditions of salary and pension accounts valid until August 31st. All nationwide institutes as well as direct and church banks, all Sparda and PSD banks and the largest savings banks and cooperative banks in each federal state were examined. In terms of total assets, they cover around 70 percent of the market.
According to the magazine, banks are now also charging fees for previously free services. This is how the Girocard is now priced, says financial test expert Heike Nicodemus.
Nicodemus currently sees no signs of new free checking accounts despite rising interest rates in the euro area. “The trend is currently going in the other direction.” According to the testers, the mandatory fee information for customers on the homepage is often very difficult to find and often not up-to-date.
Complaints about unlawful fee increases
Many banks are also finding it difficult to correct illegal fee increases from the past few years. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled last year that banks must obtain the consent of their customers when changing general terms and conditions. Financial institutions therefore had to subsequently ask for approval of the current fees. In addition, bank customers can reclaim fees that institutions have charged without their express consent.
However, there are still problems with the implementation of the verdict. From April to June alone, the financial supervisory authority BaFin received around 200 complaints from consumers, as the authority announced. In particular, the question of the reimbursement of fees was at stake. In the first three months of this year, BaFin counted 750 complaints.