That’s harsh. The big bank introduced such a fee to the Czechs that it literally takes money from their account

For a while, it may have seemed that the absurd fees that Czech banks were so fond of charging in the past years were gone once and for all. But it seems they just took a break and now they’re back on the scene again. As revenues from the bank’s core business, such as mortgage lending, decline, these institutions are looking elsewhere to recover.

Fees are returned in bulk

And at the same time, the fact that the competition is gradually diminishing plays into their hands. Gone is the situation ten years ago, when new banks entered the domestic market. Now, on the other hand, they are ending one by one. Very dynamic banking houses such as Zuno Bank, Equa Bank or Hello Bank are no longer on offer. And so the big players can try it on clients again.

The new trend is currently a very unpleasant fee, which can become very expensive. Since October, for example, Moneta Money Bank has introduced it as one of the largest banks on the domestic market. It is nothing less than the fact that it will charge you CZK 5 for every SMS it sends you, for common activities such as logging into your account or confirming a transaction.

Are you wondering how to do it so that you don’t hit the drum? The solution is here, and it’s called a mobile application through which everything can be confirmed by entering a PIN code or a fingerprint. But the truth is that many clients are happy to be able to control internet banking and do not want any mobile applications, for example for security reasons.

There are still decent banks

In that case, you are out of luck, you will have no choice but to pay for the confirmation SMS. If you use the bank in a larger style and every day, for example, you look at your account balances and you also send transactions that need to be confirmed, it can really cost you money.

“I don’t want to use any of their apps, I just don’t want to have a bank on my mobile. So now how do I have to pay five crowns for each SMS? When they were free for years before and no one dealt with it? For me this is a reason to switch banks and I will” says Mrs. Petra from Mariánské Lázně.

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At the same time, other large banks are also introducing a similar fee, such as Česká spořitelna or ČSOB. It’s not exactly cheap here either, but in the form of CZK 2.50 it is at least half the price, which can be quite essential in case of higher consumption. However, there are still banks on the market that will not charge you anything for SMS, so you can look for them. It can also be a guarantee that such a bank will not charge other meaningless fees.

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