According to a study by Stiftung Warentest, a bank account is often particularly expensive for people with a supposedly weak credit rating. Those who are poor and have no regular income, pay for a checking account usually much more than salary and pension recipients, writes the Stiftung Warentest belonging magazine "Finanztest".
Comparing 124 banks and 185 account models, account management at the most expensive banks cost more than 200 euros a year.
Since 2016, banks are required by law to offer basic accounts in the form of pure credit accounts - they are intended for people with perceived bad credit ratings, such as homeless or refugees. The accounts should give them access to cashless payment transactions. The account holder receives a bank card and may transfer money. Such an account can not be overdrawn. The fees should be "reasonable" and may include a profit of the institutions.
Consumer advocates have already sued for too high fees for basic accounts and got right. Financial test now writes that due to increased base prices and higher fees for paper transfers, the fees in the past two years, in some cases even increased.
"Financial test" highlights two banks positive
Only two of the analyzed banks offered a basic account free of charge on the deadline of 1 October. According to the testers, the financial institutions often justify the prices with additional expenses for advice and opening of basic accounts.
According to the financial test, the most expensive basic account offered the Salzland savings bank, closely followed by the Targobank. For both banks, the tested model account therefore cost around 250 euros per year. The Targobank are according to the "financial test" just under 90 euros more than in the previous investigation in 2017. Although the basic price and the price for paper transfers have remained the same, but the bank grant only ten paperless bookings a month for free, for each additional 55 cents are due.
"Finanztest" highlights two banks with free basic accounts positive: the PSD Karlsruhe-Neustadt and Sparda Baden-Württemberg. Accordingly, Sparda Munich with five euros (supraregional) and Sparda Südwest with twelve euros per year are also favorable.
According to "Finanztest" the basic account is usually not free even if it is led online. But this variant is usually cheaper than having customers keep the account in the store.
Here you can find the complete test of "Finanztest" for free.