Banks will now have to automatically reimburse duplicate chargeback fees. This measure, which comes into force on Wednesday February 1, represents a gain in purchasing power of 400 million euros for customers, according to UFC-Que Choisir.
It is a concrete measure for the purchasing power of people whose bank accounts sometimes flirt with the red. From Wednesday, February 1, banks will no longer be able to charge incident fees for the same transaction that has been rejected several times. This measure is part of the purchasing power law voted in the summer of 2022. Clearly, if the banks will always be able to invoice the first incident, the other penalties which could arise on the same incident will have to be reimbursed.
In June 2022, the UFC-Que Choisir had alerted on the costs of rejection of bank withdrawal. According to the consumer association, the banks had recovered up to 1.8 billion euros in 2020 thanks to this.
Outrageous fees
Charges for rejection of direct debits are all the more scandalous as 20% of these collections relate to overpayments for the benefit of the banks. Indeed, a rejected direct debit is resubmitted by the creditor within four to ten days. Consequently, it causes, if the account has not been funded in the meantime, duplicate costs estimated by UFC-Que Choisir at around 400 million euros in 2020!, explains the consumer defense association.
If you have been a victim of this, there is only one way to avoid paying twice for a single payment incident: vigilance. In case of duplicate on your account, contact your bank by mail. The UFC Que Choisir makes available to consumers a standard letter.
La Banque Postale and Banque Populaire are targeting
According to the website Lexbaseapart from La Banque Postale and Banque Populaire, which automatically reduce all of these duplicates, 90% of the banks simply do not inform their customers of this right on their fee schedule.
Another flagship measure of the Purchasing Power Act: the exceptional release of employee savings. Problem, this measure presented with great fanfare has not met with dazzling success. In 2022, according to statistics provided by MoneyVox by employee savings managers, it’s a flop. In fact, less than 5% of requests were received from the two largest employee savings managers.
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