Fees - What you should know and compare
Every customer should know how to compare the prices of the services that the banks charge them in their current accounts (especially for current transactions), the cost of having a credit card, the cost of credit (mainly interest), etc.
The number of fees for consumer services is small and the most frequent ones (on current accounts, mortgage loans, credit cards) are shown together in short price lists that make them easier to examine and compare. In addition, all banks have to use the same names to describe the same services.
A bank fee is a sum that the bank charges for a service that it provides. It’s usually related to the bank's costs and expenses for providing the service.
Customers can examine the characteristics of their activity (in their current accounts above all) by checking their account records several months back. Customers can also view their account records for previous periods online and at automatic machines that the banks make available to their customers. (Customers also receive printouts of these records by mail.)
Several kinds of services in a current account deserve special attention:
- regular transactions — both those performed directly by the customer and those carried out by the teller. If you have a cash withdrawal card or an information card that you’re not using, give it back to the bank. That way, you’ll be entitled to carry out four teller transactions at the price of one transaction carried out directly.
- Cost of credit facility — interest or a credit allocation fee.
- Cost of credit card — Card fee.
To Comparisons of these fees, calculators to help you compare costs, and forms that you can use to perform your own comparison - press here
The following services related to your credit card deserve special attention:
- Card fee — there is one monthly fee for having a credit card. It’s important to compare the fee for the card that your bank offers with fees offered by credit card companies for cards that they issue directly (nonbank cards). Customers do not have to hold the credit card that their bank issues; they may contract directly with any credit card company as they choose.
- Deferred payment fee — for customers who do a large number of transactions in payments.
- Review the most common transactions that you carry out by studying your account records, identifying the types of transactions actually performed, and checking their cost. You can use a comparison form, and calculators.
- Negotiate with the bank and demand that it offer you better terms.
- Check the prices that other banks charge for these transactions and see whether it is worth switching to a bank that offers better terms. When you do this comparison, it’s important to consider the interest rate that the bank offers for the credit facility in the current account.
- If you are considering switching banks, you can ask your bank to give you a form that sums up all your assets and liabilities vis-à-vis the bank. You can get one at no cost twice per year.