Heidelberg. On April 27, 2021, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that banks may only increase account fees with the express consent of customers. But even though the ruling declared all fee increases from previous years to be unlawful, only 11 percent of all customers demanded money back from their own bank. This is the result of a representative survey commissioned by the comparison portal Verivox.
Four out of ten respondents do not know the verdict
Only 110 of the 1,025 respondents have claimed account fees back from their own bank since the BGH ruling three years ago. This corresponds to a share of 11 percent. There are various reasons why there weren’t more:
More than four out of ten (43 percent) bank customers are not even aware of the ruling. But 81 percent of the other respondents also refrained from asserting reimbursement claims against their own bank. For a quarter the effort was too great. 19 percent said that the repayment was not worth it because the amounts were not large. 16 percent were unsure whether the ruling would also apply to them personally. Other reasons included fear of legal disputes (9 percent), unwillingness to put a strain on the business relationship with the bank (7 percent) and fear of account termination (7 percent).
At least 40 percent illegally overpaid
Before the BGH decision, banks had only informed their customers if they wanted to increase current account prices or introduce new fees. If the customers did not actively object or cancel the account, the new conditions automatically came into force. The Karlsruhe judges put a stop to this practice and retroactively declared fee increases without the express consent of the affected customers to be unlawful.
“Our data from previous studies show that significantly more than 11 percent of all bank customers paid bank fees that were too high,” says Oliver Maier, Managing Director of Verivox Finanzvergleich GmbH. “Between the beginning of 2018 and June 2021 alone, the checking accounts of at least 40 percent of all customers became more expensive. They all illegally paid too much, because we are not aware of a single bank that obtained customer consent for fee increases before the Karlsruhe court ruling. “
Banks did not have to inform those affected
In an earlier Verivox survey shortly after the verdict, 82 percent of those surveyed said they wanted to get the fees back. But to do this they would have had to take action themselves and request a refund from their own bank or savings bank. The hurdles were apparently too high for many people. “Only 35 percent of consumers who were aware of the BGH ruling waived claims for reimbursement because, in their own opinion, they were not entitled to it,” says Oliver Maier. “Much more often, either other reasons prevented those affected from demanding money back from their bank, or they were not even aware of the judgment.”
Credit institutions do not have to inform those affected that they have charged them unlawfully high fees in the past. A clear majority in the Verivox survey takes a critical view of this. Almost two thirds (62 percent) of those surveyed would like banks to provide information. 38 percent think it is right that the financial institutions did not have to inform their customers themselves.
Legal processing is still not completed
Anyone who didn’t shy away from confronting their own financial institution and demanding money back sometimes needed a lot of patience. In some cases, the legal tug-of-war continues to this day. It was only at the end of March 2024 that the Berlin Court of Appeal decided, following a model declaratory action filed by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, that Berliner Sparkasse must reimburse almost 1,200 customers for unlawfully charged fees retroactively up to 2018 (ref.: 26 MK 1/21).
The matter is still not over. Both the consumer advice centers and the savings bank have announced that they will appeal the judgment. The Federal Court of Justice will then have to decide again in the next instance.
methodology
On behalf of Verivox, the opinion research institute Innofact surveyed a total of 1,025 people aged 18 to 79 in March 2024. The respondents come from an ISO-certified online panel with around 500,000 participants. The survey is representative of the population in terms of age, gender and federal state affiliation.
Was asked:
At which bank do you have your main checking account?
How much did you spend on your primary checking account last year?
Since a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice in April 2021, banks have required the express consent of their customers if they want to introduce new account fees or increase existing fees. Were you aware of this ruling before?
As a result of the BGH decision, almost all fee increases in the years before the ruling were ineffective and customers were able to demand back account fees that had been paid too much. Have you done that?
Why didn’t you demand a refund of account fees from your bank after the BGH ruling?
Banks did not have to inform affected customers that they had charged them excessive fees. How do you rate that?