Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf is once again taking action against customers with high savings balances who do not agree to a payment of negative interest. In a second round, the institute wrote to 1,730 more customers this year because they each have more than 130,000 euros in their accounts. Already from 100,000 euros, a so-called custody fee of minus 0.5 percent is incurred. Of the contacted customers, 24 have now received a notice of termination because they did not give their consent to the new fees. This was stated by a spokesman for the Savings Bank at the request of Bloomberg on Wednesday, confirming a report by the Rheinische Post.
However, customers still have time to react. It is not until the end of January that the affected accounts will be blocked from sales and the balances will be handed over to the competent district court the following month. Last year, the institute had already written to 1,825 customers with more than 250,000 euros in credit. At that time, 35 initially received a notice of termination. In the end, six accounts were liquidated and the money was deposited with the district court.
The background for the custody fees is the negative interest of 0.5 percent, which banks in turn have to pay for parking money at the European Central Bank (ECB). After initially mainly new customers were asked to pay, the new fees also affect more and more existing customers. At the same time, the exemption limits, up to which no custody fees have to be paid, are decreasing more and more.
