Bank or post office? What is the Canon?

Among the various tools aimed at savers we find the famous ones savings accounts, which until a few years ago represented one of the most popular solutions to secure your money. And today? What is the better savings account? it suits still have one? Which is better, a post office book or a bank book?

Well yes, these questions are more than legitimate, as the passbook is an instrument proposed by several institutions (postal and banking), but whose returns are not as interesting as they were a few decades ago.

To discover the characteristics of these products, continue reading the guide: you will find the information to understand if opening one is right for you and, if so, which institution to rely on.

What is a savings account

Let us first try to define the libretto in question: it is a contract stipulated between the post office/bank and the saver, with which the institution acquires ownership of the sums paid by the customer, undertaking to return the sum at any time, receiving interest paid in favor of this contract .

The operations carried out are all recorded on the document itself, so as to always be able to keep the movements under control.

Lo downside of the passbook is that it does not offer the possibility of paying checks or asking for small loans without a paycheck, as it is possible to do with a current account, however it is a tool that is opened ad hoc knowing that it is not a current account.

Difference between deposit account and passbook

I open a brief parenthesis to clarify a point that creates confusion for many savers: What are the differences between a savings account and a savings account?

Both of these instruments provide for the opening of a savings deposit against rather limited operations.

In fact, both offer limited operations. Indeed:

• I deposit books guarantee a minimum level of services, for example the crediting of salaries or pensions, as well as the issuance of a Bancomat card and the crediting or debiting of wire transfers (plus the signing of Postal Savings Bonds, obviously if the passbook is postal) ;
• I deposit accounts they only allow three types of operations, namely deposits and withdrawals and e verso the support bank account, and the constraint of the sums for a certain period.

As far as support is concerned, in order to operate with a deposit account you need a computer and an Internet connection, as these tools are now managed online. Instead, passbooks are offered in paper form and can therefore be handled over the counter or using a cash card.

I yields

Unfortunately the performance proposed has dropped to an almost zero threshold, which is around 0.0010% gross. Not only that: starting from 2012 it is necessary to pay stamp duty equal to 34.20 euros per year, for amounts exceeding 5,000 euros.

This could make this savings tool not particularly interesting. However, here are the current offers.

Accrued interest is subject to a 26% withholding tax.

Postal book

Let’s start by reviewing the best-known passbooks, namely the postal ones. It must be said immediately that the gross interest rate advertised will have to subtract the tax on accrued interest, at 26%. Furthermore, as anticipated, above 5000 euros it is necessary to subtract lstamp duty (34.20 euros for natural persons and 100 for legal persons).

Now let’s see what are the various types of booklet offered by the Italian Post Office.

Type of Postal Savings Book – Gross Yield

• Ordinary Name Book 0.001% gross;
• Smart name book 0.001% gross;
• Booklet for minors 0,001%;
• Judicial record 0.001% (both restricted and unrestricted).

Here you can find one in-depth guide on this issue.

But is the post office book worth it?

To date, perhaps the answer is no: we can say that the postal savings book is suitable for those who have credited their INPS and INPDAP pensions or for those who do not have the convenience of opening a current account, but it must be said that the Today’s tax rates are quite high with zero interest.

For these reasons, to date it does not seem to be the most suitable solution for savings and investments.

Unicredit savings account: One, Genius Teen and Genius Bimbi passbook

As anticipated, not only the Post Office, but also the Banks they offered savings accounts to customers. The first one I want to review is the one proposed by Unicredit. Let’s start with booklet One.

Booklet One Unicredit

The characteristics of this instrument are linked to the possibility of crediting both the pension and the salary without any costs and linking a securities deposit to it. You will be able to obtain a withdrawal card with which you can carry out up to 60 operations in a year (each costing one euro).

However, the maintenance costs per year are equal to 24 euros, since you will have to pay 2 euros per month, in addition to the stamp duty of 34.20 euros. Crediting RIDs also costs 1 euro, while for outgoing wire transfers the cost is 8.50 both to Unicredit and to other banks, at the counter.

Incoming wire transfers have no costs, but be careful, these operations are included in the 60 operations per year, as are salary credit operations. The minimum rate is 0.001%.

Therefore the conditions are the same as those proposed by the Italian Post Office. This is not a good alternative to the current account unless you have to carry out very few operations, as in the previous case. If you want to go deeper, read my guide!

Libretto Genius Teen Unicredit

This is the savings account designed for young people aged 13 to 17.

The boy must be resident in Italy and this booklet allows them to manage their savings and to be able to make purchases independently.

The booklet offers the possibility of receiving SEPA transfers, making deposits and withdrawals and making purchases online with the prepaid card.

As far as costs are concerned, there are no opening fees or management fees. Debit and prepaid cards are also topped up at no extra cost.

Interest equal to 0.20% is calculated every year on the sums deposited.

Genius Children Unicredit booklet

There is also a tool dedicated to the little ones. The genius of Bimbi is the named savings deposit dedicated to children from 0 to 12 years resident in Italy. A booklet that allows you to keep your first savings from birth.

Allows you to:

• make payments;
• withdraw cash;
• cash wire transfers.

Intesa San Paolo’s offer

Now let’s see what another well-known bank offers, namely Banca Intesa Sanpaolo. This institution offers different types of savings accounts.

Libretto Flash

This booklet is dedicated to children up to 17 years of age. It can be requested by parents or guardians and carries 1% interest up to the age of 18, with free activation for children up to 12 years of age.

You cannot exceed 4999 euros in stock, also to avoid the cost of stamp duty. There isn’t one canon yearly and the pocket money credit is free.

In addition, you can have booklet paper, flash paper and superflash paper.

Pension booklet for you

Pension booklet for you is a product designed for pensioners. There are no opening costs or credit or withdrawal costs at the bank’s branches. At the moment there is no interest credited, while the stamp duty meets the conditions listed in the previous paragraphs.

The cost in case of theft or loss of the booklet is 40 euros.

Conclusions: is the postal or bank passbook better?

In reality there is no single answer, it all depends on your needs: in fact, you need to evaluate whether you are a pensioner, a worker or if you are opening this booklet for a minor.

Before choosing, however, it is advisable to compare the offers of the various institutes, which are always renewed, and opt for the one with the least management costs, remembering that unfortunately the stamp duty is always present and that the interest, for better or worse, is in line with each other in each institution.

In any case, perhaps it could also be useful to evaluate the opportunities offered by deposit accounts, which could offer more interesting solutions in total safety: here you can make the right considerations, in the appropriate section of My Affairs.

In any case, I personally think that opting for a savings account is not a great solution. The yields are not at all attractive, especially in view of the various costs to be incurred.

Whether you want to invest for yourself or for a grandchild or child, there are many ways that are more profitable and do not require more effort:

I suggest you don’t settle on the habits of your grandparents, who had very few tools to choose from and, above all, more profitable tools! Times have changed, the interests are lower, the costs higher, and the choice is much wider.

Therefore, before deciding, I advise you to “waste some time” to inform yourself, in order to invest in the most advantageous way.

Other resources

For this I want to leave you some resources that will be useful for you to start investing:

Good continuation!