In a press release, the UFC-Que Choisir denounced, this Tuesday, June 7, the pressure of the costs for banking incidents on the household budget. Costs much higher in France than in the majority of its European neighbors.
Has one of your direct debits been rejected? It will cost you dearly. And even more expensive because you are French! According to UFC-Que Choisir, the costs of banking incidents are 17 times higher in France than in Germany, eight times higher than in Italy and three times higher than in Belgium.
A scandalous bank grab of 1.8 billion euros on the consumer budget
A “scandalous bank grab of 1.8 billion euros on the consumer budget” denounced this Tuesday, June 7 by the consumer defense association in a press release.
UFC-Que Choisir looked into the details of these costs. For each banking incident, all French establishments sanction their customers with the maximum legal fine of €20. Of this sum, €8 corresponds to an “intervention commission”, the association of which has estimated the intervention time at less than two minutes.
UFC proposes fee cap
Another aberration, this “information letter” sent by 24% of banks to their customers when a direct debit is made while their bank account is in the red. A letter billed on average €10.70!
At a time when the government is working on ways to act on the purchasing power of the French, UFC-Que Choisir pleads for a cap on banking incident fees at €8. A measure that could save more than a billion euros for consumers.