Have your bank charges been increased without your active consent?
Then you can reclaim the additional costs from your bank.
Here's how to do it.
Karlsruhe / Munich - In the past, many banks and savings banks simply increased their account or custody account fees by informing their customers about this by email or letter.
If there was no objection, the change was considered accepted.
With this approach, the loan houses saved themselves a lot of administrative work and secured additional income.
Consumer associations sued against this approach, the defendant was Postbank, and the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) agreed with them.
In the judgment of April 27, the judges come to the conclusion that in the case of price increases or other unfavorable changes in the conditions of banks and savings banks, it is not sufficient if customers do not object.
It follows that any fee increases that a customer has not actively consented to are ineffective.
Immediately affected by the ruling is Comdirect, which stopped plans to raise fees for the current account.
BGH ruling on fee increase: How to get back money you have paid too much
For bank and savings bank customers, this judgment can be worth real money.
But who will get back fees that have been paid too much?
And how do you do that?
The first step is to check what the original fees were that you agreed upon when you closed your account or custody account.
If you no longer have any information about this, contact your bank, who will have to provide information.
If you have not agreed to any changes to the contract, you can claim back all additional fees that you have paid since January 1, 2018.
The statute of limitations applies to the period before that.
In addition, there is the interest that the bank has to reimburse.
Incidentally, this also applies to banks with which you are currently no longer a customer, but have paid excessively high fees in the past.
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This is how you get back too many paid fees from your bank
© Sascha Steinach / www.imago-images.de
BGH ruling on fee increase: Stiftung Warentest provides sample letters for reimbursement
If you have determined that you are entitled to money, you must submit a corresponding application to the bank or savings bank.
The best way to do this is to use the sample letter that Stiftung Warentest provides free of charge.
In the document you will find two letters of claim.
A text is used to reimburse bank or savings bank fee increases of an unknown amount.
If the amount of the reimbursement is known, use the second text.
Fill out the document and send it to your bank as a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to be on the safe side.
In the letter, you also specify the period within which the bank must respond.
This should be at least two weeks.
If the bank does not respond to your request within the deadline, complain to the responsible ombudsman, who is named in the sample letter from Stiftung Warentest.
He will take care of your request free of charge.
Alternatively, you can also hire a lawyer.
The bank or savings bank must reimburse you for the costs if the claim is justified.
However, there is a high probability that you will have to pay the lawyer in advance.
BGH ruling on fee increase: This is how you react to the response from the bank
If you receive a reply from your bank, there are a few things you should be aware of.
If your claim is rejected, contact the ombudsman mentioned above, who will take care of everything else.
The bank can accept the claim, but at the same time add an amendment to the contract with a corresponding fee increase.
Then it is up to you whether you accept the future increase and continue to be a customer of the institute or look for another bank.
In no case should you accept a clause in which you waive your claims.
Because that way you lose the overpaid fees.
In your interest, you should study the reply letter carefully before responding.
BGH ruling on fee increase: Repayment of the overpaid fees can take time
However, you should not expect a quick repayment of the overpaid fees. Because the banks have withdrawn into their trenches. Only the German credit industry, an amalgamation of the central banking associations such as the Federal Association of German Banks and the German Savings Banks and Giro Association, expressed itself across industries. After the BGH ruling, it announced that a more detailed analysis of the ruling and an assessment of its effects would only be possible if the reasons for the ruling were also available. That could take a few weeks.
However, you should not hesitate to send a letter of claim to your bank if you are affected by the BHG ruling.
Because there is a three-year limitation period.
If you only submit the application in the coming year, you will lose the repayment for 2018.
List of rubric lists: © Sascha Steinach / www.imago-images.de
