The search for a free current account without conditions is becoming increasingly difficult, according to Stiftung Warentest.

"It is noticeable that fees are increased, introduced or free accounts are linked to conditions, for example a monthly receipt of money," said "Finanztest" expert Heike Nicodemus of the German press agency.

In an evaluation of 380 models from 152 banks and savings banks, the testers found 14 accounts that were free of charge without any conditions.

A year ago it was 20. According to the information, ten of the free models are with banks with branches, the others with direct banks.

The Stiftung Warentest defines free as: no basic fee, no fee for account statements, bookings, girocard and when withdrawing money from ATMs in its own bank pool and no conditions such as regular receipt of money and salary in a certain amount.

A model customer was taken as the basis for the evaluation in the current issue of the “Finanztest” magazine (9/2021).

She gets a regular salary, keeps the account online and uses it on average.

Another 90 accounts, which, including the Girocard and all bookings, do not cost more than 60 euros a year, are cheap from the experts' point of view.

“Because the bank processes bookings, provides ATMs and secure technology for online banking.

However, we find that fewer and fewer accounts are well below 60 euros, ”reported Nicodemus.

Credit institutions hide fee increases

"In general, the credit institutions are turning various screws so that the increases are not so noticeable," said the expert.

“This means that paper transfers tend to be more expensive, as are credit cards.” The problem is that the fee information is often very hidden on the institute's websites.

The Federal Court of Justice recently set limits on fee increases insofar as banks have to obtain the consent of their customers in the event of changes to general terms and conditions.

The court ruled in April that the clause, according to which financial institutions can assume tacit approval if customers do not object to a change within two months, disadvantageous customers inappropriately.

Credit institutions now have to ask customers to agree to the current fees in retrospect.

In addition, bank customers can reclaim fees that institutes have charged without explicit consent - according to the initial assessment of the Stiftung Warentest retrospectively until at least January 1, 2018. However, it expects that most institutes will not be able to repay the account fees voluntarily.

Billions of euros due to negative interest rates

Consumer advocates have already threatened to file a lawsuit in this case.

"If we do not see that the inadmissible account fees will be reimbursed, then we will go to a second round in court," said the head of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), Klaus Müller, recently in an interview with the German Press Agency.

Financial houses have been turning the fee screw for years.

The institutes are under pressure from low interest rates.

In addition, the financial institutions have to pay 0.5 percent negative interest when they park money at the European Central Bank.

Even if there are now tax exemptions for certain sums, the industry is complaining of billions.

Also because of the advancing digitization, more and more bank branches are being closed in Germany.

Last year, according to the Bundesbank, the number fell by 9.6 percent to 24,100.

A total of 2567 branches were closed, up from 1772 in 2019.

The Stiftung Warentest, which operates a free website for comparing checking accounts on behalf of the state, evaluated the conditions of checking accounts valid until August 31st.

All nationwide finance houses as well as direct and church banks, all Sparda and PSD banks as well as the largest savings banks and Volks- and Raiffeisenbanks in each federal state were examined.

According to the information, they cover around 70 percent of the market.