Since August 1, the Crdit Mutuel Alliance Fdrale and CIC federations have been distributing a new banking offer of 1 euro per month. Designed for financially fragile customers, it is open to everyone, including new customers.
Support offer for Clients in a situation of financial fragility. Or, in short, OCF. Since 2013, retail banks have been required to set up a system for early detection of financial difficulties of their customers. Then offer them a specific service group offerlower cost (3euros per month maximum), designed to limit the risk of payment incidents.
Almost 10 years, therefore, that all the banks of the place have the obligation to offer this OCF. And yet, at the end of 2021, only 690,000 bank customers benefited from itout of the 4.1 million whose financial fragility has been identified, according to figures from the Financial Inclusion Observatory of the Banque de France.
The banks’ goodwill is not only in question. The OCF, in fact, is very often refused by customers who it is intended for, because of its limits: no checkbook, no overdraft and therefore no possible margin in the event of a difficult end of the month. Many users therefore prefer to stick to traditional offers, even if it means incurring payment incident costs.
Financial fragility: banking offers for fragile customers
One bank, however, seems willing to tackle the problem, releasing the OCF from confidentiality. The Crdit Mutuel Alliance Fdrale, which brings together most of the Crdit Mutuel federations and the CIC, has just inaugurated Easy Accs 1a complete overhaul of its offering for vulnerable customers.
Full incident fee waiver
What changes compared to the competition? The price first: 1euro per month, against 3euros, maximum allowed by the regulations, in most other brands. The possibility, then, of benefit from a small overdraft authorization, up to 225 euros. A facility that is not automatic. It is the hand of the adviser who follows the client, explains the communication of the mutualist group. No checkbook, on the other hand, since the regulations forbid it for this offer, but an unlimited number of bank checks, against 2 per month elsewhere.
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Above all, the Crdit Mutuel Alliance Fdrale goes further than its obligations on one point: the payment incident fees. Since 2020, banks must limit the amount of these fees, for OCF beneficiaries, to 20 euros per month and 200 euros per year. Facil’Accs holders benefit from a total exemption: no intervention commissions, no fees for newsletters, no fees for rejecting direct debits, etc.
The Facil’Accs 1 offer in detail
here are the main features of the new offer Easy Accs 1available from August 1, 2022 in local Crdit Mutuel branches and in CIC branches, under the name Welcome service:
- a current account with an international payment card with systematic authorization Mastercard On line;
- a dedicated branch advisor;
- collection of checks and cash in branches;
- unlimited bank checks;
- total exemption from incident and seizure costs;
- the second bank card in the case of a joint account;
- an overdraft authorization up to a maximum of 225 euros, if the adviser gives the green light.
A social commitment
This initiative is linked with others taken recently. In particular, Crdit Mutuel has launched, in areas where people are most affected by the rise in energy prices, 100,000 purchasing power appointments with advisors. We have observed that inflation, particularly on fuels, accentuates the fragility of some households, explains the bank’s communication. Faced with this issue of purchasing power, we want to play our part. It is a societal commitment, not a commercial one, because the offer is not intended to make us earn money.
This explains another original feature of the new Crdit Mutuel Alliance Fdrale OCF. It is not intended only for customers whose bank has detected their fragility, but is open to all, without verification of income and without supporting documents, including new customers, from the moment they declare that they are experiencing financial difficulties. A stone in the garden of Crdit Mutuel’s competitors, but also of players like Nickel, who have made fragile customers one of their commercial axes.
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