The turnaround in interest rates for private customers is on the horizon: ING is the first major financial institution in Germany to massively increase its allowances for negative interest rates again. Many customers no longer have to pay extra when they park their money at the bank, but not all. Whether it will soon be worth saving again is another matter.
ING raises allowances: many bank customers can breathe easy
The times when German savers have to bleed seem to be drawing to a close. From July 1, ING will massively increase the allowances for its customers: from the current EUR 50,000 the allowance increases to EUR 500,000 per account. Although the negative interest has not been abolished, it only affects a few account holders.
“With the increase in the allowance for credit balances on the current and extra accounts, the custody fee will no longer apply for 99.9 percent of our customers,” says Nick Jue, CEO of ING in Germany (source: ING). “We were one of the last banks to introduce a custody fee and virtually eliminate it as one of the first.”
This also means that almost all customers are making good on the promise to pass on the positive interest rate development to the market. It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s expected in the summer. The ECB is currently assuming a first step in raising the key interest rate to at least 0.25 percent.
According to ING apply from July 1, 2022. For new customers who open an account from then on, the new terms and conditions will apply with an allowance of EUR 500,000. From this point onwards, existing customers automatically no longer have to pay negative interest below the limit.
New customers will also be offered a call money account, called an extra account, from July 1st. ING had previously discontinued this for new customers. “If the interest rate environment continues to develop positively, so will we let our customers participate in this development”, announces the head of Germany further.
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Even without negative interest: savers have to come up with something
That However, the step is not the end of the low-interest phase. If you want to counter high inflation, you have to find other ways than saving. This also applies to ING customers. However, many of them will soon no longer have to fear the regular debiting of custody fees in addition to general inflation.