Deco lawyer, Margarida Moura, considers that Portugal’s banks are acting illegally in charging customers monthly fees for operating their bank accounts.
Moura says there is a gap in the law covering these charges as there is no definition of exactly what a banking service should consist of.
In the first six months of the year, Portugal’s Big Five banks managed to relieve customers of €5.3 million for having or operating a bank account.
BCP, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Novo Banco, Santander Totta and BPI claim the monthly sums for ‘services rendered,’ without stating what the service is.
Recent increases in these banking charges have crept across the sector with Caixa Geral’s president even saying that these monthly charges are a quick and easy way of returning the bank to profitability.
In an interview with TVI, Deco’s lawyer said that fees are being charged that do not constitute an effective service to the client, which makes their collection illegal.
"In addition to the sharp rise in bank charges over the years, we have noticed that fees are charged for alleged services that do not constitute the true provision of a service, such as the provision of a bank account," says the legal expert.
Margarida Moura also said that Deco realised, "that there are amounts charged that are manifestly disproportionate to the service provided.”
"In Portugal, the law prohibits fees or expenses from being charged if a service is not effectively provided," Moura commented, on the Queluz de Baixo channel.
At the end of August 2017, a decree law established new rules for bank account fees. Among the changes, which come into effect next January, banks must send a detailed statement of fees being charged for services associated with bank accounts.
This leaves the customer stuck as there is no point in moving bank if the new choice also charges a monthly fee.
There is the provision of scaled down and cheaper bank accounts, under the Serviços Mínimos Bancários regime, but many of these severely restrict what services can be accessed by the account holder, making them pretty useless for many day-to-day banking customers.
