Nobody likes to pay commissions and less now that many banks have risen the price of their current accounts. The new commissions policy of the Spanish entities has raised blisters among many consumers and has also shot the number of claims sent to the Bank of Spain (BDE).
The national regulator received 2,134 complaints on the collection of commissions in accounts, of which more than half were for maintenance expenses. This type of claims increased by 91% by 2020 with respect to the previous year.
Currently, banks are freedom to set the price they charge for their services, hence a client can open an account without commissions and without payroll in a bank and have to pay up to 240 euros per year on another if it is not linked. "Banks can put the amount or price that they estimate appropriate," clarifies the Bank of Spain, except in those operations in which the maximum expenses are limited by the current regulations.
Despite this freedom to set commissions that banks have, some expenses can be claimed, explain experts from the financial product comparator HelpmyCash.com.
Banks can charge commissions to their customers each time they issue a transfer, what they can not do is charged more if the destination account, rather than being in Spain, is in another country in the SEPA area (unique area of payments in Europe).
Regulation 924/2009 sets a principle of equality applicable to transfers of up to 50,000 euros. The regulations stipulate that the Commissions of an international transfer in euros to another country in the SEPA area will be the same as those that would charge the Bank for a national transfer in euros of the same amount.
In practice, this means that if a Spanish bank does not charge for sending money to a CaixaBank, BBVA or Santander account, it can not charge for sending euros to an account located in a French bank, German or Italian.
Most Spanish entities allow to order free-to-free transfers, both national and other countries, if they are performed through digital channels, in some cases even if the client does not assume any type of link. For example, the clara of ABANCA, without commissions and without payroll, allows to make national and cross-border transfers to be totally free, as well as the OpenBank Open current account, which does not charge for transfers regardless of the degree of client's bonding.
Last year, the Bank of Spain received 891 claims for the collection of maintenance commissions in the account linked to the mortgage. The truth is that the bank can charge for the maintenance of this account, even if it is used exclusively to pay the loan fees. It all depends on when the loan was formalized. If the mortgage is prior to April 29, 2012, the entity can not charge commissions for the maintenance of the account if it is only used to pay for monthly payments. On the other hand, if it is later, it could charge the client, as long as the Commission appears reflected in the preconqual documents (FIPRE, FIERE, FEIN and FIAE), the obligation to hire the account and the cost reflected in the contract. In addition, the Bank will not be able to modify the cost of the account while the mortgage is valid, they affirm from HelpmyCash.
Staying in red numbers is expensive and one of the main culprits of the high cost of discovers is the commission for the claim of debtor positions, which the bank charges for the efforts to be made to claim the debt. However, as the BDE points out, it will not be charged more than once by the claim of the same unpaid balance, "not even when, in case of unpaid in time, this is prolonged in successive claims."
Receiving a transfer or entering a check does not imply that the money is immediately available in the account. On many occasions, the accounting date of the operation and the value date do not coincide. In the case of income, the value date is usually after the accounting date, while in the case of payments, both dates often coincide.
But what is the difference and why it is important to take it into account? The accounting date is one in which an operation is executed and the value date is the one used for the calculation of interest. Thus, for example, if a check is entered into the bank and the money is removed on the same day, a schedule could be generated, since the value date of the income is likely to be later than the accounting date. In any case, when dealing with a technical imbalance, the Bank of Spain establishes that the Commission due is not applicable in these cases.
The valuation dates are regulated and with the entry into force of the Royal Decree-Law 19/2018, the deadlines have been reduced. Now, consumers who enter effective in an account will be able to have the money immediately afterwards and the date of valuation will be that of the day.
Remove all the money from an account and forget about it does not imply that the account ceases to exist and is that it is not the same to cancel it that leaves it inactive, fonts from the HelpmyCash comparator.
"The entity, in the event that the account is not canceled, can, legitimately, despite not registering any movement, perceiving maintenance commissions, within the limits of the content of the formalized contract," the BDE clarifies. However, it considers that it goes against good banking practices the fact of collecting commissions and interests due to a discovery whose cause is the commissions applied by the Bank.
Date Of Update: 25 July 2021, 06:21
