Court prohibits custody fees: Sparda-Bank has to repay customers penalty interest

Court prohibits custody fees
Sparda-Bank has to repay customers penalty interest

Around every third bank now asks savers to pay for higher credit. The consumer advice centers consider this to be inadmissible and want to go to the Federal Court of Justice. A first judgment now proves them right: Sparda-Bank Berlin should repay the negative interest. The money house announces the appointment.

In the dispute over negative interest rates on current and overnight money accounts, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) has achieved success. The Berlin district court ruled that Sparda-Bank Berlin is no longer allowed to charge negative interest on current and overnight accounts. In the opinion of the court, the so-called custody fee “cannot be reconciled with the fundamental principles of the legal regulation”. VZBV legal officer David Bode said: “It is also gratifying that the court has obliged the bank to repay all amounts wrongly collected.” However, Sparda-Bank announced that it would appeal the decision.

The consumer advocates consider the practice of banks to be inadmissible and have therefore sued. Like Sparda-Bank Berlin, according to the comparison portal Verivox, more than 400 financial institutions calculate negative interest on current and overnight accounts; that is more than a third of the credit institutions examined. The VZBV wants to have the admissibility clarified in principle and has therefore, according to its own information, filed lawsuits against various credit institutions at different places of jurisdiction. The judgment of the Berlin Regional Court is the first decision on this. If necessary, the association wants to go to the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

However, the Sparda-Bank emphasized to the “Handelsblatt”: “The judgment of the Berlin Regional Court differs from previous judgments which basically allow custody fees.” In addition, the bank adheres to the practice, which has been coordinated with the financial supervisory authority Bafin since 2019, of expressly agreeing the custody fee with existing customers.

0.5 percent on deposits over 25,000 euros

In a similar case, the Leipzig Regional Court ruled Sparkasse Vogtland right in July. Accordingly, the Sparkasse may charge a custody fee for new checking accounts. The consumer center of Saxony, which has since appealed to the Dresden Higher Regional Court, sued – it could be the first case to land before the BGH.

If the Berlin judgment becomes final, affected customers do not have to claim their reimbursement claims themselves, according to VZBV. The consumer advocates explained the judgment as follows: The safekeeping of deposits in the current account is not a “special service” for which a bank can demand a separate fee. After all, a current account simply cannot be operated without the safekeeping of money.

Accordingly, the institute charged 0.5 percent per year as a custody fee on deposits over 25,000 euros in current accounts and over 50,000 euros in overnight money accounts. “Many banks argue that the ECB’s negative interest rate policy would force them to pass the costs on to customers – but that is only half the story,” said Bode. “After all, the ECB allows them generous allowances for money ‘parked’ there.”

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