Credit cards (illustrative image).

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DENIS CHARLET / AFP

Depending on each bank, bank fees vary enormously.

On the strength of this observation, the CLCV association calls on consumers to compare establishments more than ever in order to compete.

For a basket of identical services, "the bill will be very different from one establishment to another", notes CLCV, with prices for the same customer profile that can range "from simple to more than double" at the national level.

This observation is based on a study of the tariffs which will be in effect on February 1, 2021 in 127 banks in mainland France and overseas, for three consumer profiles - small, medium or large - depending on the number of services used.

“A la carte” offers more interesting than packages

The average cost represents 66.43 euros per year for a small consumer, 145.39 euros for an average consumer and 209.94 euros for a heavy consumer.

"After having listed his needs, the consumer has every interest in comparing the rates of different banks as the differences can be significant," advises CLCV, which also encourages comparing the offers offered within the same establishment.

We can often choose between banking services paid “à la carte”, on a unit basis, and those grouped together in a “package”, a bundled offer at a fixed price.

However, the “package” is “only interesting in ten establishments” for small consumers and “is financially advantageous” in only about half of the banks for medium and large consumers, notes the study.

"In general, customers are not sufficiently informed of all the possible options and are often only presented with packaged offers", deplores Jean-Yves Mano, president of CLCV, to AFP.

Scheduled fee increase in 2021

The study also notes that some customers will pay more for their banking services in 2021 than in 2020. Small consumers should be the most affected with an “average cost increase of 1.06%”.

For other customer profiles, the average cost recorded by CLCV should remain almost stable (-0.2%).

The price increases are mainly due to increases in immediate debit cards, account maintenance fees or even ATM withdrawals.

According to CLCV, they also concern less common operations "whose cost is high", such as the transfer costs of PEL (up to 155 euros) or inheritance (which can represent up to several hundred euros).

Sometimes "opaque" conditions

In its January edition, the magazine

60 Millions de consommateurs

also denies the commissions received by banks on inheritance costs, denouncing “vertiginous increases over the period 2012-2020” in certain establishments and “opaque” conditions.

Judging that the banks "take too much", the magazine calls on the public authorities to regulate these fees.

Asked by AFP, the French Banking Federation affirms for its part that "the processing costs, taken during a succession, are clearly displayed and detailed in the price guides".

"These costs cover not only the treatment of the deceased's assets but also the necessary interventions, depending on the degree of complexity of the succession, and do not correspond to a simple account closure", continues the federation, stressing that the hardening of the regulation in recent years required banking establishments to "major investigations".

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