Rising prices do not stop at bank customers either. Every third fee-based current account in Germany has become more expensive in the last 12 months. A fifth of all Germans spend at least 100 euros a year on their checking accounts. Around every sixth person has a completely free account. This is the result of a representative survey commissioned by the comparison portal Verivox.
Price increases for every third paid account
According to this, five out of six respondents (83 percent) have to pay fees for their current account. For a third (33 percent) of these respondents, the bank has increased fees over the past year. For another 26 percent, the last increase was one to two years ago. Apparently, customers do not always notice when banks are tightening their fees: more than a quarter (28 percent) of those surveyed do not know when their bank last increased their prices. A total of 1,029 people were interviewed for the Verivox survey.
“No one should spend more than 100 euros”
According to their own statements, 29 percent pay a total of less than 50 euros per year for the account, but around half of all respondents have to bear higher costs. For a good quarter (27 percent) of the survey participants, the total annual costs are between 50 and 100 euros. A fifth spends between 100 and 200 euros (15 percent) or even more (5 percent) on the account per year. 7 percent do not know their account costs.
“It’s legitimate for banks to charge for their services. But even with comparable services, the prices vary widely,” says Oliver Maier, Managing Director of Verivox Finanzvergleich GmbH. “With annual total costs of more than 50 euros, bank customers should check whether they can find an account with similar services cheaper elsewhere. Nobody should spend more than 100 euros a year on their current account.”
One in six pays nothing at all for the account
The market comparison shows that a good checking account does not necessarily have to cost anything. Above all, the main account, on which pension or salary is received and through which all payment transactions are made, is still offered free of charge by several banks. In the Verivox survey, 17 percent of participants stated that they did not have to pay any fees for their main account.
“The current account is an important anchor product for banks,” explains Oliver Maier. “The main account in particular provides them with valuable information so that they can offer their customers other financial products such as a securities savings plan or mortgage lending at the right time. This gives them the opportunity for lucrative follow-up business and in return they can offer the current account at a low price or even for free.”
When it comes to costs, bank customers should not only pay attention to the account management fees. Many credit institutions also charge additional fees – for example for the debit or giro card (formerly: EC card) or for withdrawing money. Depending on the account model, all transfers, direct debits and standing orders are sometimes billed individually. “Anyone who occasionally slips into the red with his account should also keep an eye on the overdraft interest,” advises Oliver Maier. “While many banks are reluctant to pass on higher interest rates to their savers, overdrafts at many banks have already become significantly more expensive as a result of the interest rate turnaround.”
Tolerance threshold for cost increases very different
The more bank customers are already spending on their account today, the more likely they are to tolerate future fee increases: among account holders with total annual costs of more than EUR 100, only one in ten would look for a new account if the fee increased by up to EUR 25 per year. For more than half of those surveyed in this group, switching banks would either not be an option at all (15 percent) or only if there was a very high increase in costs: for 18 percent, the limit for annual additional costs was between 100 and 200 euros, for a fifth they would have to Account costs increase even more so that they consider a switch. Those surveyed with a free checking account are the most price-sensitive: a clear majority of 61 percent would switch to another provider even if the costs increased moderately by up to EUR 25 per year.
Thanks to digital exchange assistants, switching to a new checking account is now very easy. Almost all financial institutions offer their new customers such an online exchange service. Users log into their old checking account once via a secure interface and select the payment partners who should be informed about their new bank details with a click of the mouse. The new bank sends the notification with the new account details. So the account holders do not have to take care of it themselves.
methodology
On behalf of Verivox, the opinion research institute Innofact surveyed a total of 1,029 people aged between 18 and 79 online in February 2023. The survey is representative of the population in terms of age, gender and federal state.