The banking sector continues to make the maintenance conditions of your cards.
The last entity in climbing the car has been CaixaBank, which yesterday reported the ancient customers of Bankia that their debit card, until the free moment, would have maintenance costs of 36 euros per year.
A price sensibly higher than the 26 euros than the organization of consumers and users (OCU) estimates that users spend half a year in maintenance commissions.
“It is the highest maintenance commission on a debit card at present,” says Lorena González, a banking products specialist in Rankia.
Since this consultancy expand the average fork to 20 and 50 euros, an estimate that resembles the derivative of the data of the Bank of Spain (about 20 euros on average).
But, as Advierte Enrique García, OCU spokesman, this average is a simple reference, a result of establishing an intermediate point between commissions that are around 200 euros (including credit cards here) and those that are completely free.
In the first group are the cards of all those traditional banking entities that have deployed what the OCU spokesman defines as a “double strategy”, which consists of “uploading the commissions and hardening the conditions to keep customers”
, so that, the fewer financial products the user of that entity has, the more expensive the maintenance of his card will come out.
This is the case of the program “For being you” of Bankia, Entity of CaixaBank, which raises conditions to its clients for the exemption of the payment of maintenance commissions such as the domiciliation of a payroll exceeding 700 euros, 30,000 euros in insurance of
Home, health, automobile, etc, or the realization of two purchases per month with a credit card, among others.
A scheme similar to the IBERCAJA cards, with commissions of 20 euros per year, or the ONE account of Banco Santander, which with a maintenance expense of 20 Euros will deliver from maintenance costs to customers who, among many other conditions,
They have domiciled a payroll or unemployment benefit of at least 600 euros or pension, at least three receipts and the use of their cards at least 6 times a month.
These last two entities are the ones that have most given their conditions in accounts and cards in the last year, according to the second barometer of the Association of Financial Users (ASSFIL).
Thus, Santander would have uploaded his maintenance commissions 94 euros, while Ibercaja and Kutxabank would have done it between 48 and 40 euros.
Faced with these, there is a whole range of entities that do not charge commission to its customers.
Enrique García catalogs them in two main types: business establishment cards and new online banks.
In the case of the former, this advantage intends to build clients through bonuses for purchases in their establishments.
Some of these are the Pass Carrefour of the French chain of supermarket or the IKEA Family card, of the Multinational of Swedish furniture.
For its part, the new-year online entities are having a good reception by users who do not want to pay the maintenance of their cards, according to the OCU.
Among them stand out the payment instruments of BNNEXT online banks, account N26, Monese or MyInvestor, all of them without maintenance costs.
For its part, Rankia highlights the Open Debit debit card, OpenBank, the term card, which also offers bonuses for purchases in supermarkets or the Revolut Card, which also allows free cash extractions at any cashier.
Despite these advantages, some of these entities have the handicap of having “quite basic services,” Lorena González points out.
“They do not charge you more, but they do not offer you much more.”
An explanation to this widespread trend of increasing the maintenance commissions of the banking sector is the reduction of benefits in the last years of the most traditional banks in the products that used to provide profitability, such as the financial intermediation or granting of credits.
A clear example of this is the mortgages, which “with the Euribor below 0 ’40 have ceased to be so profitable for banks,” says González.
So, after the increase in the commissions, the need for “retain” banks is hidden, they explain from Rankia.
“They seek linking them 100% to the entity,” continues Lorena González.
In this way, now customers come out more expensive to have several products distributed in different entities.
“What these entities look for is that the client hire other investment products that does give them a profitability, as a pension plan, life and household insurance,” etc.
Therefore, the commissions end up being the vehicle used by banking entities so that their customers hire profitable investment products.
At the moment, there are no new rises in sight.
“We hope that they do not upload more,” says González, since “each account has its advantages and that link you to a single entity limits your domestic economy.”
