Sparkasse, Sparda-Bank and Co .: Some Nuremberg banks are using negative interest rates - and there are more and more

Created: 01/05/2022, 5:03 PM

Many banks are now charging penalty interest on saved money.

© Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez / dpa / symbol image

Many Nuremberg banks are now charging negative interest rates.

This is what the comparison portal Verivox found out.

But is that even allowed? 

Nuremberg - negative interest rates used to only affect large investors - but now they have also reached small savers.

The comparison portal Verivox has that

found out in a new evaluation.

Of around 1300 banks examined, 423 have introduced negative interest rates.

That is 245 more than in 2020.  

Negative interest rates from 5000 euros - also in Nuremberg

The amount from which a saver is penalized with negative interest has also been reduced at many financial institutions.

In some cases, customers have to pay more than 5000 euros.

According to Verivox managing director Oliver Maier, negative interest rates * have become a "mass phenomenon".

These have long since "reached the average saver".  

Only banks that explicitly charge negative interest for a call money account or charge fees for it were included in the analysis.

Because, according to the comparison portal, that would amount to negative interest.

Banks that did not put their price list online were not included.  

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Are banks allowed to charge a negative interest rate? 

Many banks use the European Central Bank's deposit rate as a guide.

Because banks also have to pay 0.5 percent penalty interest on certain excess deposits.

According to Maier, the negative interest rates are "defensive conditions" for the financial institutions.

That means they want to keep new savers away as much as possible.

According to Verivox

however, it is not yet entirely clear whether banks are even allowed to charge negative interest rates.

"So far, the usual practice has been as follows: If banks publish negative interest rates in the price notice, these conditions apply to new current and overnight money accounts," says Verivox.  

However, if banks want money from existing customers, they would have to make individual agreements.

However, the Berlin regional court had ruled in one case that Sparda-Bank Berlin was not allowed to charge negative interest on current and overnight accounts.

This ruling could cause difficulties for some banks.

"If the following instances confirm the decision of the Berlin judges, numerous credit institutions would have to repay unlawfully charged negative interest to their customers," says Maier.

These Nuremberg banks charge negative interest rates

Even Nuremberg banks are too long to save too much, writes

.

The PSD-Bank requires 0.5 percent for an account balance of 100,000 euros.

You have 200,000 euros free at Sparda-Bank in Nuremberg.

Thereafter, 0.5 percent negative interest is also due.

But this only applies to the call money account.

In the case of a current account, the tax exemption ends at 50,000 euros.

At Sparkasse Nürnberg, 0.5 percent is also due for new customers who invest a sum of more than 50,000 euros.