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The account is empty, but there is still money coming out of the machine: It can be expensive
Photo: Friso Gentsch / picture alliance / dpa
To the author
Photo: Gordon Welters / www.GordonWelters.com
Gerhard Schick,
born in 1972, was a member of the Bundestag from 2005 to 2018 and initiated, among other things, the Cum-Ex investigation committee.
From 2007 to 2017, Schick was the financial policy spokesman for the Greens parliamentary group, and since 2018 he has been chairman of the financial transition.
Anyone who overdraws their account at Volksbank Oberbayern Südost will be dearly.
The institute charges up to 13.75 percent interest - so anyone who is 1000 euros in the red has to pay around 140 euros extra a year.
And then it often hits exactly those who really care about every euro.
Other banks are also paying dearly for the overdraft facility.
An investigation by the citizens' movement Finanzwende among 1250 institutes has shown that banks and savings banks charge an average of almost ten percent despite the corona crisis and low interest rates.
The range is from 0.00 to 13.75 percent.
The wide spread shows that there is no real competition for this interest rate, other factors are often more decisive when choosing an account.
Many institutes are reaching out to people who have little anyway.
After all, an overdraft facility is mainly used by those who are trying to make ends meet.
In view of the current economic misery with millions of short-time working and rising unemployment, this group of people is growing steadily.
I do not want to deny that there are costs for making such a loan available.
And of course it is legitimate for the institutions to make a profit with this type of loan.
But even with a small regional bank, ten percent and more is simply too much for a given loan.
Especially since it is very rare that someone cannot repay such a loan.
Here the wrong people are being asked to pay in excess.
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