Dhe philosophers of history like to argue whether history is an ascent, a decline, or a never-ending cycle. For savers, at any rate, there are noticeable signs of a steady return at the moment. It is the turnaround in interest rates that is ensuring that financial products that seemed almost forgotten in the long years of low interest rates since 2014 are coming to the fore again.
For example, anyone who goes to their savings bank these days to withdraw money may come across a hand-painted advertising sign with small columns for a savings product whose name many younger people will hardly be familiar with: the savings bank letter. Many savings banks discontinued or no longer advertised these “registered or bearer bonds with a predetermined term of up to ten years” during the low interest period due to a lack of customer interest. Now the savings bank letter is coming back.
Savings banks advertise the savings bank letter.
:
Image: FAZ, Inken Schönauer
Another classic, this time from the world of direct banks, never completely disappeared, but also received little attention due to the lack of interest during the low-interest years: the call money account. When there was zero percent interest there or even had to be paid, few had even transferred their money from the checking account there. Now the money market account has become the central competitive tool for deposits, especially for the Internet-focused part of the banking industry.
3 percent interest on the call money account
Remarkably, it is precisely the bank that established the call money account in Germany more than 20 years ago that is now largely responsible for its comeback. ING Germany announced on Wednesday that it would pay 3 percent interest on the call money account in the future. And not just new customers, but also existing customers who already have an overnight money account with the institute, receive 3 percent interest on newly deposited funds for six months from now on.
That’s quite a lot at the moment. The Suresse Direct Bank, which belongs to the Spanish Santander, was recently the first financial institution to call up this brand, as the consumer portal Biallo reports. There, the offer only applies to new customers and is limited to four months. From the fifth month onwards, there’s still an above-average 1.75 percent a year. At the Spanish bank, however, the deposits are covered by the Spanish deposit insurance.
C24 Bank, the bank of the Check 24 comparison portal, has been paying 2 percent interest on current accounts on current accounts of up to EUR 50,000 for both new and existing customers since April 1, 2023 until the end of the year. The advantage of this model: money does not have to be transferred to a separate account, but interest is paid directly on the current account, where it is available at any time for any expenses.
“With the interest rate increase to 3 percent, ING catapulted itself to the top of the market,” says Oliver Maier, Managing Director of Verivox Finanzvergleich GmbH. Savers are currently not receiving such high overnight interest rates from any other German bank: “The new offer is likely to further fuel competition for savings, and for many other market participants, ING, as the largest German direct bank, is an important benchmark that they use when determining their own conditions.”
In October, ING Germany boss Nick Jue announced the interest rate turnaround for his house: “We will be the first major bank in Germany to bring call money interest back for everyone.” On December 6, ING began with 0.3 percent interest on call money for existing customers , since March 8 it has been 0.6 percent. ING initially attracted new customers with one percent for four months, most recently it was 2 percent.