Frankfurt If banks and savings banks want to raise the fees for current accounts, they need the explicit consent of their customers. Many credit institutions write to those who have not yet responded a third, fourth or fifth time to obtain approval. But some financial institutions have now also announced terminations, and other banks are no longer ruling out the step.
As a Handelsblatt survey of large private and cooperative banks and savings banks shows, there are further cases of terminations. According to its own statements, the Sparkasse Hannover sent a letter of termination to around 9,000 customers in the third quarter.
The Kreissparkasse Köln, one of the largest savings banks in Germany, has given notice to some customers as of the end of 2022. She does not want to name a number.
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The Volksbank from Offenburg/ Villingen-Schwenningen states that almost all customers agreed to the terms and conditions in the second half of 2021. “A few terminations were only pronounced in exceptional cases,” explains board member Clemens Fritz.
There could also be terminations at Commerzbank: “If customers still do not respond to our inquiries, we cannot rule out a termination of the business relationship in the further course, as we need a valid legal basis.”
Different treatment of customers problematic
The background to the action taken by the financial institutions is a judgment by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in April 2021. According to this, financial institutions must obtain the express consent of their customers if there are changes to the general terms and conditions, for example price increases (Az. XI ZR 26/20). The Federal Association of Consumers (VZBV) had sued Postbank, which had raised prices several times in recent years.
Up until the verdict, banks and savings banks had usually increased the fees via the existing terms and conditions clauses. They assumed that customers would tacitly consent if they did not object to a change within two months. Since very similar general terms and conditions are used in the German banking industry, the BGH decision is considered to be decisive for the entire industry.
The financial institutions are now getting approval for fee increases that have just been announced. On the other hand, they need the customers’ consent to price increases in the past three years.
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Among other things, financial institutions see the problem that they treat different customers differently without full consent. “Customers who have not agreed to the new prices usually manage the account at the previously valid prices, similar to a special condition,” says Berliner Volksbank, the largest Volksbank in Germany.
It is currently unclear how the bank will deal with customers who do not recognize the new terms and conditions. In the sense of a manageable complexity of different versions of the GTC in the IT systems, the subject is viewed “quite critically”.
Other large financial institutions from the public service and cooperative sectors are again asking the remaining customers for their approval. These include the savings banks from Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne-Bonn and Frankfurt as well as the Frankfurter Volksbank.
The bank terminated several customer accounts in early 2022.
(Photo: dpa)
The Sparda-Bank Baden-Württemberg, one of the largest cooperative banks, had already terminated accounts at the beginning of 2022, but ultimately closed very few. At the end of February, it was also announced that Postbank, which belongs to Deutsche Bank, was the first large private customer bank to close current accounts for customers who did not agree to the bank’s current prices and conditions. A mid-five-digit number of customers were affected.
Approval for canceled account still possible
However, Postbank customers were able to maintain the business relationship after the end of the notice period and automatically accept the terms and conditions by continuing to use the account within a certain period of time. This happened with a single transfer, a card payment or by withdrawing money from an ATM.
When asked, Deutsche Bank recently stated that 97 percent of customers ultimately agreed, while around 1,000 customers did not. Some of these could not be reached by post or died.
The Kreissparkasse Köln and the Sparkasse Hannover, for example, proceed in a similar way. According to the Kreissparkasse Köln, the termination is linked to the possibility of subsequently granting approval. This can be done in writing, via online banking or at a self-service machine.
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The Sparkasse also considers the use of the account during January 2023 to be consent. 99 percent of customers gave their consent.
At the Sparkasse Nürnberg, many customers still reacted after the letter of termination. According to the Sparkasse, two-thirds of them agreed to the terms and conditions.
After the deadline, the accounts would not be closed immediately, but blocked for sales. Customers could then still give their consent and reactivate the account.
criticize consumer advocates
While consumer advocates have no objection to the approval of continued use after the account termination in the case of Postbank, there is another legal dispute in a somewhat different case. From the point of view of the VZBV, customers do not automatically agree to contract changes such as price increases by using their account, for example by making a transfer or withdrawing money.
The VZBV has therefore sued the Sparda-Bank Hanover and was right in court in the first instance. The district court in Hanover recently prohibited the bank’s actions.
According to the VZBV, the Sparda-Bank had initially explicitly asked customers in two letters for approval of the conditions, in a further letter the bank stated that it also wanted to consider the future use of the account as approval. The money house has now appealed against the court decision, as it announced on request.
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