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Fees for bank balances: negative interest from 5,000 euros - what does Stiftung Warentest advise small savers?

2021-10-06T11:23:26.569Z


More and more banks and savings banks are announcing the introduction of negative interest on account balances. It is also increasingly affecting small savers.


More and more banks and savings banks are announcing the introduction of negative interest on account balances.

It is also increasingly affecting small savers.

Lower allowances

and

higher penalty interest

* on the

overnight or current account

: According to the comparison portal Verivox, credit institutions are increasingly tightening existing

negative interest conditions for private customers

.

This was reported by the German Press Agency (dpa).

At the same time, the number of banks and savings banks that charge the so-called custody fee is increasing.

Verivox counted 392 institutes at the end of the third quarter (as of September 29).

Since the beginning of the year, 214 financial institutions have been added.

Negative interest from 5,000 euros

For a long time, a

custody

fee was due

, especially for large sums of 100,000 euros

or more

. According to the evaluation, at least 135 institutes are now charging negative interest from a total credit of 50,000 euros or less per customer, as dpa writes.

At some institutions

,

negative interest rates

would be due

from 5,000 euros or less

. Most savings banks and banks would base the amount of the custody fee on the interest of 0.5 percent that they have to pay on part of their excess deposits that they park at the European Central Bank (ECB). "13 institutes, however, charge their private customers' credit balances with 0.55 to 1 percent penalty interest," the dpa report also says.

The 

negative interest

 mainly affects

new customers

.

If a bank wants to demand a custody fee from existing customers, it must agree this individually with the parties concerned.

According to dpa, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) considers negative interest rates on current and overnight accounts of consumers to be fundamentally inadmissible - regardless of whether they are new or existing customers.

Stiftung Warentest: Possible alternatives for small savers

There are still banks that offer a small increase in interest rates for savings

, according to Stiftung Warentest.

"Negative interest on balances on

checking and money market accounts

can avoid savers", it was said on

Test.de

.

“Above all, foreign banks offer overnight money accounts, with which customers even receive a little interest for funds that are available on a daily basis.

Many offers can only be accessed via interest portals such as Check 24, Weltsparen or Zinspilot. "

Also read:

Free current accounts: You can benefit from these banks - even as a new customer

According to the experts at Stiftung Warentest, those who want to save and who absolutely wanted to invest their money in a German bank can do so at Ford Money, BMW Bank, Mercedes Bank and Volkswagen Bank. "So far, these banks have not

charged

any penalty interest," said the article on

Test.de

on August 10th. "At Ford Money, an online brand of the German Ford Bank, there is even a tiny interest rate of 0.05 percent for credit on overnight money." Savers can also see which banks pay the highest interest for overnight money from a comparison on

Test.de

, so your hint. According to the information, this comparison contains "currently 61 offers and is updated every 14 days". 

Also interesting:

Did you pay too much account fee?

Get your money back now

An end to the trend towards negative interest rates does not seem to be in sight.

According to dpa, the

consumer

portal Biallo.de

recently even came to around 490 institutes that charge negative interest on private credit (as of August 27).

Meanwhile, many savers no longer rely on interest investments, but rather on

ETF savings plans

, for example 

.

(ahu) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.

List of rubric lists: © Andrea Warnecke / dpa (symbol picture)

Source: merkur

All life articles on 2021-10-06

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