CSU wants free "basic account" for pensioners - will Söders party get on this time with the proposal?

Created: 01/03/2022, 05:29 AM

From: Cindy Boden

Markus Söder, CSU chairman (center) and Alexander Dobrindt, CSU regional group leader (right) on the way to an appointment (archive picture).

© Michael Kappeler / dpa

A free basic account?

That sounds tempting.

The CSU is trying a new approach at least for one group of people.

Berlin / Munich - Without an account it becomes difficult in many places these days.

However, in addition to possible rental payments and other expenses, the account fees also cause direct debits.

The CSU * regional group in the Bundestag is now calling for a “free basic account for seniors”.

The Christian Socials had already made people sit up and take notice in the past few days with social plans.

CSU demand: "Free basic account for seniors"

"The current inflation and simultaneously rising account fees affect pensioners in particular," says the draft resolution for the traditional CSU retreat at the start of the year on January 6th and 7th, from which the German press agency and

quote.

The meeting will not take place in the Seeon Monastery as usual, but will be held in Berlin due to Corona.

As the

writes, debits or transfers of pensions, rent and insurance should be free of charge for pensioners.

"We want to relieve pensioners in a targeted manner," said CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt of the newspaper.

"The principle must apply: small pensions must not be burdened with large fees."

Basic account for pensioners soon to be free?

CSU goes on the offensive before the exam

Minimum functions that a basic account must fulfill according to the consumer advice center:

• Cash deposits and withdrawals

• Execution of direct debits, transfers and standing orders

• Cashless payment (payment card)

CSU wants free basic account for seniors - 2020 similar proposal in the room

The CSU's demand is not entirely new: at the beginning of 2020, the party around boss Markus Söder * wanted the German state to support savers. "Anyone who wants to make provisions for tomorrow needs support today," said a paper from the CSU regional group at the time. Among other things, banks should be obliged to offer a free basic account. The resolution stated in 2020: “The negative interest that banks have to pay to the ECB will be passed on to all bank customers as fees. We want to avoid that - to protect consumers. To this end, we want to work with the banks to develop a basic account for small and medium-sized incomes, whereby basic functions such as the processing of salaries and rent should be available free of charge as far as possible. "

Stiftung Warentest tests basic accounts - also a short insert on the topic in the traffic light coalition agreement

The Stiftung Warentest published a comparison of basic accounts in mid-December 2021 - also called the account for everyone.

The bad news of the evaluation: Many paid “a lot and in some cases more than in our first test two years ago” for the basic account.

132 banks were compared.

Sometimes the model customer had to pay more than 200 euros a year for branch account management.

The Payment Accounts Act states that the fee must be "reasonable".

The coalition agreement of the traffic light parties * also hides a short sentence on the subject - in the chapter on consumer protection: "We limit the costs of early repayment penalties to what is reasonable, ensure fair access to a basic account and create transparency."

CSU before the exam in Berlin: basic account, “super lump sum” and tax-free allowance

In addition to their proposal for a free basic account for senior citizens, the CSU also wants to

introduce a “super lump sum” of 1000 euros for 2021 and 2022,

according to

, which can be deducted from tax.

The party wants to make childcare costs completely deductible, align the tax-free allowance for children with that for adults and raise the relief amount for single parents to 5000 euros.

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is meanwhile promising billions in relief.