Bruno Le Maire invites banks to limit banking incident expenses to € 200 per year for beneficiaries of the offer for people in difficulty. The association CLCV wishes that the approach is extended to all customers of banks.
The cap on bank incident charges for the most modest clients will not be written into the law. At least not immediately. The measure is nonetheless the subject of an agreement in principle between the government and the banks, announced Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, Monday, September 3. The banks undertake to limit to € 200 per year the incident costs for the beneficiaries of the specific offer for the most modest customers, against € 320 on average until now. But for the CLCV consumer association, it does not go far enough. Interview with Olivier Gayraud, jurist at the CLCV.
The cap on banking incident costs for customers in financial frailty is ultimately not enshrined in law. It is the subject of a simple agreement in principle between the government and the banks. Did the mountain give birth to a mouse?
I would not say that. It would be a harsh judgment. It is a good thing that the principle is laid down. The challenge is that the most modest French are no longer caught in the throat. On the other hand, a ceiling of € 200 per year seems high. We would have preferred a limitation up to 100 €.
Will the banks honor their commitments?
These are commitments to the minister. We asked that it be written into the law. For the moment, the government favors consultation. Why not ? We will in any case be attentive to the fact that the specific offer intended for the financially vulnerable public is widely diffused in the agencies. For now, it is not enough (Editor's note: launched in 2014, it currently only concerns 375,000 customers, or one in ten eligible persons, providing access to banking services for € 3 per month. basic).
Why ?
The banks say that many customers refuse because this offer is perceived as stigmatizing. But when you question the consumers in difficulty, they tell us: this offer, I do not know it, it was not proposed to me. In addition, we hope that the cap will not be limited to clients identified as fragile.
What does the CLCV request?
We must protect consumers as a whole. We propose a ceiling of € 200 for customers who do not benefit from the offer for financially vulnerable people. It is abnormal to be asphyxiated by bank charges, whatever your situation.