Several associations including Secours Catholique and Emmaüs France are campaigning for an evolution of the fragile clientele offer (OCF), an insufficient and stigmatizing set of banking services according to the conclusions of a manifesto “for universal financial inclusion” published on Tuesday.
First pitfall: the means of payment offered to the most precarious are most often unsuitable, reports to AFP the spokesperson for Secours Catholique Genevive Colas.
For example, OCF customers are not entitled to have a check book, which is often essential to pay for sports activities or the children’s canteen, and are obliged to use a payment card with systematic authorization, not accepted by all merchants. (including pages or service stations).
Another downside is the absence of authorized overdrafts, which unfortunately are necessary for food or refueling at the end of the month, according to the associations.
688,354 beneficiaries
Result? This offer is not often implemented. Of the approximately 4.1 million people identified as fragile (+8% in one year in 2021) by the Banque de France, 688,354 benefited from it, i.e. less than 17%.
An additional difficulty is the pejorative aspect of the specific Fragile Client Offer: seeing oneself labeled as brittle is not easy to accept for the households we support, continues the manifesto.
The associations are also asking for the harmonization between the banks of the criteria for detecting people in a situation of financial fragility.
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Difficulties in accessing or using means of payment and banking services aggravate situations of poverty, insists Ms. Colas, as do the costs of banking incidents.
A symbolic gesture
In September, Bercy had obtained from the banks that they pass the OCF of 3 1 euro per month, one of the elements of the banking shield with the limitation of 2% of the increase in prices next year.
This first measure is symbolic since it represents in a full year less than 20 million euros in savings for the banks, a drop of water compared to their profits.
The signatory associations of the manifesto also make a number of other proposals: defense of cash, better accessibility of ATMs for people in wheelchairs or even stricter supervision of consumer credit.
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