Bank branches closing, ATMs disappearing, fewer and fewer devices for printing account statements, bank transactions at the counter that are becoming more and more expensive… Banks try to let us bank digitally as much as possible. However, not everyone is up to speed with this rapid digitization.
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“The universal banking service is a response to a changing society: everything is increasingly being done via the PC or smartphone and not everyone is familiar with it,” says Karel Baert, CEO of the banking umbrella organization Febelfin. He worked out a ‘charter’ with the federal government that introduces a ‘universal banking service’: for a fixed price of 60 euros per year (or 5 euros per month), this package gives access to a series of non-digital banking transactions (see below). “It is important that everyone, including those who are not yet able to handle the digitization of banking services, can withdraw money from the bank and make transfers at an affordable and transparent rate,” said Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V).
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Test Aankoop, which has long been on the barricades for such a ‘universal banking service’, speaks of “a big step forward”, but has reservations about the price: “60 euros per year for a current account may seem reasonable, but almost half of the banks already offer a product for less than that price that is suitable for that customer profile.” State Secretary for Consumer Protection Eva De Bleeker (Open VLD) now wants to work on “clear price comparisons for banking services”, because “many consumers do not have the best package for their profile”.
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The universal banking service in brief
•At least 24 free cash withdrawals per year at your own bank’s ATMs
•At least 60 manual transactions per year at the counter of the bank
• A debit card
•Free printing of paper statements at the bank branch, monthly withdrawals at the counter (if offered by the bank) or mailed once a month at a reasonable rate
• The possibility of free direct debit of invoices (eg energy, water, telecom, …) and the free entry of standing payment orders (eg rent).
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