Government faces the headache of capping payment incident fees

Bruno Le Maire wants to take his time. While the government is disputed on the social side, the Minister of Economy and Finance must decide on a possible ceiling on charges levied by banks during payment incidents (overdraft, rejection of levy, check, etc. .). But, he pleaded at the economic meetings of Aix en Provence, "I still need some time to discuss with the badociations and the banks a real effective ceiling of bank charges for the modest homes ".

Interrupted by 60 million consumers in November on the concentration of these costs on the most fragile customers – according to the badociation, they are collected on average 296 euros of agios per year , against 34 euros for all consumers – the minister has stated his desire to "treat the problem." "We do not reach out to those who sink, on the contrary, we press them on the head, it is not acceptable", confirms in the entourage of the minister. [19659002] The subject that was originally scheduled to be decided on Monday will be arbitrated at the beginning of September. It will timely support the government's poverty plan. However, it remains to find a consensus …

The perimeter of the discord

This is where the shoe pinches. The cap on bank charges divides banks and consumer badociations. So much so that UFC Que Choisir, Unaf and Rural Families have chosen to distance themselves from the findings of the niche report that was submitted to the minister in early July on the cost of banking incidents, judging his proposals too little ambitious.

At the heart of the discord lies the perimeter of the ceiling of these costs: "The Governor of the Banque de France suggested strengthening the specific offer 'fragile customers' by setting an overall ceiling incidents. Not widely distributed by banks because of its low profitability, it is subscribed by less than 10% of the 3.6 million financially fragile consumers, " argues the UFC-Que Choisir. The badociation argues for an overall cap incident costs, which would affect all consumers.

Alternative tools to fight agios

In Bercy, it is argued that the ambition is to reduce the burden for modest clients. But we also recognize the limit of a cap focused on the holders of the only specific offer of banks dedicated to financially fragile customers: "Barely 10% of customers would be affected by a cap and this could pose a competition problem to the extent that 30% of the holders of the 'fragile customers' offer are at La Banque Postale. "

For their part, the banks that would generate each year, according to the survey of 60 million consumers, nearly a third of their net banking retail banking income through these incident costs, argue "The 40% increase in one year of subscriptions to the specific offer for financially vulnerable populations"

In the absence of consensus, the ceiling project is likely to lose its substance. Already, the financial sector advisory committee is putting forward other tools to stop the vicious circle of agios which are the victims of fragile customers. According to our information, the report submitted to the Minister pleads to offer the customer the choice on the dates of sampling at the signing of their contracts and to work on tools to limit the costs in case of representation of a levy already refused. Because if the law stipulates that the costs of rejecting the levy for an operation already rejected can be reimbursed, in practice the customers have great difficulty in baderting their rights.

Sharon Wajsbrot