Has La Banque Postale crossed the yellow line to save money?
In the eyes of UFC-Que To Choose, there is no doubt about it.
The consumer association is suing the banking establishment before the Paris Judicial Court on Wednesday.
She criticizes her for the letters sent at the end of last year to her clients with a housing savings plan (PEL).
La Banque Postale requires that they open a current account at the risk of seeing their PEL closed.
“We were alerted from mid-December by dozens of members.
It is a practice that goes beyond any legal framework!
», Warns Raphaël Bartlomé, head of the association's legal department.
The UFC asks the courts to "stop immediately the practices of the Postal Bank" and expressly "to stop the fences for this reason".
In letters sent to its customers, the management of the financial institution requires that the individual meet his advisor to set up a "Regulys Service, free service of scheduled payments and to open a postal current account (CCP)".
La Banque Postale, which does not wish to react to the legal attack, says it has reminded its customers "of their obligations".
"In order to comply with the regulations of the Housing Savings Plan which requires in particular to make regular payments," said management.
Individuals thus have two months to “regularize their situation”.
"There is no obligation"
However, the Construction and Housing Code does not include any provision requiring that the opening of a PEL be conditional on that of a current account in the same establishment.
"The only constraint is that transfers be made on a regular basis and up to 540 euros per year minimum," supports Bérengère Dubus, director of the company FI Courtage and specialist in bank-client relations.
There is no obligation to have a checking account!
Otherwise, why wouldn't the Banque Postale have asked for it as soon as the PEL opened?
"
Behind this new requirement, to say the least curious, the Banque Postale would seek, according to the UFC, to force individuals to "get rid" of their PEL, for the simple reason that they are "expensive".
The rate of return on this regulated risk-free investment depends on the year it is opened.
Between 2000 and 2003, for example, it was 3.3% or 2.5% from 2004 to 2015. Thus, some clients who opened it ten, fifteen or twenty years ago have a much higher profitability. than today, barely 1%.
"The old PELs are too well remunerated so the banks seek to close them, including by using fallacious methods", denounces Bérengère Dubus.
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The obligation to have a current account, decreed by La Banque Postale, would only be a means of reducing the bill.
“If the consumer opens one, he will pay bank charges, and that will be a source of income for the bank.
When you boast of being an establishment for "little people", things go quite badly!
tackle Raphaël Bartlomé.
We don't want individuals to give in to the pressure.
La Banque Postale assures us that it will continue to “examine individual situations with the greatest attention”.