Credit institutions raised their fees for years, and wrongly.
Here's how to get your money back.
It is about several hundred euros.
Karlsruhe / Munich - In the past, many banks and savings banks made it easy for themselves.
They informed their customers about an increase in account or custody fees by email or letter.
If they did not receive an answer, the change was considered accepted.
But consumer associations filed a lawsuit against this procedure and received the right from the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).
Accordingly, fee increases that a customer has not actively consented to are ineffective, and retrospectively.
How to get back fees that have been paid too much: Refunds of up to ten years back possible
Initially, consumer advocates or lawyers assumed that the claim for reimbursement before January 1, 2018 for fees that were overpaid is statute-barred. But according to
Stiftung Warentest
, this is obviously a mistake. The European Court of Justice has ruled in several cases that the reimbursement of fees that have been paid due to unfair terms must not expire before consumers can at least see that they have received the money back.
For German law, according to the lawyers at
Stiftung Warentest
, this means that the normal statute of limitations does not begin with the respective payment.
The reference date is the time at which consumers learned of the current judgment on the ineffectiveness of the adjustment clause of the fees.
Only the maximum period of limitation, ten years, has not yet expired.
But this is probably not entirely certain.
Some legal scholars and banking associations are of the opinion that the reimbursement of amounts paid before January 1, 2018 is statute-barred.
Even if the courts end up doing so, don't take any chances to reclaim fees paid before January 1, 2018.
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Customers who have paid too much account fees should contact their bank or savings bank
© Michael Gstettenbauer / imago
How to get back fees that have been paid too much: A refund of several hundred euros is possible
Many consumers should therefore be entitled to a reimbursement of several hundred euros.
Many online, branch and premium accounts of the major credit institutions such as ING, Postbank, Deutsche Bank or Commerzbank are affected.
In addition, between January 1, 2018 and December 2020, regional savings banks, Volksbanks and Landesbanken have increased their bank fees by up to 50 percent.
But first of all, you need to determine if you are affected.
Use old account statements, whether in paper form or digitally in the case of online banking, to check the original fees that you agreed upon when you closed your account or custody account.
Compare these current bank statements.
If you discover fee increases that you have not agreed to, you can reclaim all fees that you paid in excess of the originally agreed amount.
There is also interest.
How to get back overpaid fees: Use sample letters for refunds
To do this, write a letter and ask your bank for the overpaid fees.
Stiftung Warentest and the consumer center have published sample letters for this.
For the reimbursement amount, simply add up from the time of the unlawful increase up to the current month.
The letter should ideally be sent by registered return receipt.
If the bank does not react, you should follow up.
If the bank continues to not hear from you or if it rejects your claim, you should contact the arbitration board that is responsible for such disputes.
The procedure is free of charge.
In addition, one could turn to the financial supervisory authority Bafin.
Even if you get back fees from your credit institution that have been paid too much, you should compare the account costs and, if necessary, change the bank or savings bank.
As a rule of thumb, a current account should not cost more than 60 euros a year.
List of rubric lists: © Michael Gstettenbauer via www.imago-images.de