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Check24 headquarters: Critics criticize selective selection
Photo: Matthias Balk / dpa
No more comparing checking account costs on the legally certified website of Check24: After a good five months, the company shut down the site on Monday due to an unclear legal situation, according to a spokesman.
Consumer advocates had complained that the website had not compared enough accounts.
There had also been headwinds from a banking association.
The model chosen in Germany for the implementation of an EU directive, which was supposed to provide more insight into the jungle of fees, was controversial from the start.
The head of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), Klaus Müller, spoke of a success for consumers.
"The Check24 offer was not suitable for consumers to find an overview of suitable account offers on the market." The website is certified by TÜV Saarland, but it is still deficient and inadequate.
"It simply did not meet the requirements of European law," argued Müller.
He called for a swift reassignment to an independent sponsor.
"Independent agencies like the Bafin or the Stiftung Warentest would be better suited to make a good, useful offer here to consumers."
Check24 boss Christoph Röttele criticized the behavior of the consumer advocates: »We discussed the further development of the comparison in joint discussions with politicians and consumer protection.
It is unbelievable to be sued now for the fact that we are implementing legal criteria. «As a company, Check24 needs a legally secure framework for its investments in Germany.
"We currently see it as endangered."
Seven-digit amount invested
The comparison website was launched in early August 2020.
Bank customers found information about the amount of overdraft interest, account fees and fees for credit cards.
According to Check24, the conditions of all major private banks as well as more than 80 percent of the savings banks as well as Volks- and Raiffeisenbanken were compared based on total assets.
In addition, there were almost all direct banks.
Check24 have invested a seven-figure amount "in a settlement with which we do not earn any money," said the company boss.
In the absence of interfaces in industry, the data had to be recorded manually.
The company had also hoped that customers who use the site would also be interested in other products on the comparison portal.
Check24 receives commission from providers when consumers conclude contracts with them via the portal.
According to the company, TÜV Saarland checked the comparison on a quarterly basis.
During the analysis in November there were no complaints.
From the point of view of consumer advocates, however, the website did not offer any significant market coverage.
Of the more than 1,700 banks in Germany (as of the end of 2019), 567 and thus less than a third were recorded according to a current vzbv evaluation.
In over 90 percent of the cases, only one account model per credit institution was listed and not the full range of the institutions.
According to the investigation, the site was too close to other commercial offers from Check24.
Critics point to Check24's self-interest
In the opinion of consumer advocates, the comparison website did not meet the requirements of the EU Payment Accounts Directive.
The federal association and the consumer association NRW had taken to court.
»We warned against a private, interest-driven solution from the start.
The victims now are the consumers.
That's embarrassing, ”said Müller.
After the website was shut down, the private banks demanded that legal uncertainties should be clarified and eliminated as quickly as possible.
"A comparison website should enable customers to compare the various offers from financial institutions quickly and easily," said the chief executive of the banking association, Andreas Krautscheid.
It goes without saying that comparison websites should be above any doubts about self-interest.
There had also been criticism from cooperative banks in the past.
The Association of Sparda Banks and the Bavarian Cooperative Association (GVB) saw possible conflicts of interest because Check24 has entered the banking business and offers its own current accounts.
Check24 had rejected this with the argument that the account comparison was regulated by the state and that the in-house bank offer was compared according to the same objective criteria.
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mik / dpa