At the end of April 2021, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that banks must have the consent of their customers to make changes to the general terms and conditions. This also includes the account fees that many credit institutions have introduced in recent years. As a result, bank customers can claim a refund of fees charged by institutions without explicit consent – according to the assessment of Stiftung Warentest, retroactive to January 1, 2018. However, this is mostly possible only for regular customers who are not afraid of disagreement with the bank. BaFin is now working to change that by making banks accountable.
BaFin has specific requirements
Like the regulator on them website announced, has local banks through a Supervision Notice Urge the implementation of the Karlsruhe ruling on the increase in account fees quickly and fairly. According to the Bonn Authority, customers should be informed in an understandable manner of the consequences of the ruling, and wrongly charged fees should be compensated. In addition, credit institutions are required to give their customers a specific contact person and make provisions.
Consumer advocates welcome the call
Mark Branson, president of BaFin, said the Federal Court of Justice ruling affects nearly every bank customer. “Quick, unbureaucratic and transparent implementation is the most important.” There is support for this from consumer advocates: they welcome BaFin’s application and see it as a “clear message” to banks and savings banks, according to Klaus Muller, board member of the German Consumers Association (vzbv). “They must now finally all treat their customers with a fair and transparent offer and must not be allowed to stand in the way of legitimate payback.” (With material from dpa.)
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