Better to read the small print: Some banks charge fees just for holding credit on checking and money market accounts.
A court has ordered the repayment – but there is a catch.
Custody fee: That's the name of the complicated technical term for a very simple thing.
Saving in a bank account is becoming more expensive for more and more people.
Banks like Raiffeisen - meine Bank eG charge their customers fees just for keeping savings in current and money market accounts.
Custody fees on bank balances: Court decides against
At Raiffeisen, a custody fee of 0.5 percent is required from a so-called savings deposit of EUR 10,000.01 on current accounts.
With call money accounts, it applies from the first cent.
Corresponding clauses are in the general terms and conditions of the banks.
But that does not mean that this is permissible, explains the
Federal Association of Consumer Organizations
(vzbv) on its website.
She had complained about it.
And the vzbv was proved right.
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Affected customers should get their money back, a court has decided.
© IMAGO/photo booth / K. Schmitt
The District Court of Nuremberg-Fürth ruled against Raiffeisen - meine Bank eG and declared the clauses null and void.
Accordingly, penalty interest on current and money market accounts are ineffective.
After all, this undermines the very purpose, since the safekeeping of bank deposits is the basic service that the bank provides to customers once they open an account.
This way he can eventually deposit or withdraw money on it, as well as make transfers.
Charging fees for this is not justifiable and should not be billed, the vzbv continued.
When will affected bank customers get their money back?
But it gets even worse: The bank was ordered by the court to pay back the fees charged to the affected customers.
The verdict is not yet final – the bank has already appealed against the verdict.
So it may take a while before those affected get their money back.
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Nevertheless, the vzbv is in good spirits: “Custody fees are not permitted.
With the judgment of the Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court, a third court already shares the vzbv's legal opinion," says David Bode, legal officer at the vzbv.
"If the decision holds up in the next instances, affected customers of the bank can even look forward to a repayment." In order to ensure this and to further protect the rights of consumers, the vzbzv is even striving for a judgment from the Federal Court of Justice that should also serve as a model for case law of other courts in the future.
List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Fotostand / K. Schmitt
