Banks will raise fees for a host of services from next year, ranging from mailing out bank statements to the annuities paid for a card, in a hike that comes as the banking sector moves increasingly towards service digitalisation.
"The new fees concern products and services which require manual intervention from our collaborators and for which there exists a digital, free alternative," a spokesperson with BNP Paribas said, according to RTBF.
Excluding Argenta, KBC and Keytrade, whom the outlet said had not yet communicated their revised 2020 fees, below is a list, per bank, of the services which banks will make more expensive from next year:
Belfius
The state-owned bank will raise the costs of issuing bank statements on paper to customers, who will be charged €2.50 for picking up a statement at the counter with those choosing to receive it at home paying an additional €1.70. For deliveries outside of Belgium, the bank will charge €3.50.
Renting a safe in a Belfius branch will also be more expensive from January 2020, date from which clients will be charged a minimum of €70 for a safe, up from the current €54.
The remainder of the services offered by Belfius to individuals will not be subject to a significant price hike, according to the list of 2020 fees and prices released by the bank (In Dutch).
AXA Banque
The global insurer's banking branch will raise the monthly account-holding fee to €4.50 from the current €3.90, and will also add €0.50 to the €2 service of mailing out bank statements. All information on the price changes of AXA's banking services has been published on their website.
ING
Some clients of the Dutch multinational in Belgium will have to pay more if they are holders of an ING Green Account or of a Professional ING Account, as the fees for each will respectively rise from €40 to €44 and from €40 to €50. The digital ING Lion account and of the bank's youth account will continue to be offered free of charge.
Clients who rent a safe at ING will also be charged an increased amount from 2020, with prices for a safe starting from €84, up from the current €67, with the most expensive one reaching €170 up from the current €110.
The bank will also charge €5 for sending bank statements to account holders, plus mailing fees.
Cardholders of the bank's ING Card, MasterCard ING or Visa ING will be charged €6 for ATM withdrawals belonging to ING, with withdrawals from other banks' ATMs reaching €8, up from the current €6.96.
The full list of the bank's revised prices for next year has been made available online (Dutch; French).
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Deutsche Bank
The fee for clients of Deutsche Bank who need a card replacement will rise from €5 to €6.05, and the same amount will be charged to clients paying with a cheque, a service which will cease being free.
The German multinational will also raise the fees for account holders, who will see the price for a DB Titanium go from zero to €20, with the costs of the DB Titanium Plus also rising from €20 to €30.
The bank will also start charging €5 to clients who see a payment in the SEPA payment zone rejected due to insufficient funds in their accounts. The detailed list of the bank's revised 2020 tariffs can be found online (French; Dutch).
BNP Paribas Fortis
The fees for the banking packages subscribed to by a large majority of the bank's customers will remain unchanged in 2020, a representative of the bank told RTBF.
Accounts subscribed to outside the packs will rise slightly for individual account-holders, who from 2020 will pay €1.75 per month, up from the current €1.25. Professional account holders with the bank will see the monthly fee hiked from €3.75 to €5.25 from next year.
Card replacements will now cost clients €10 and refused transactions will be subject to a fee of €6. ATM withdrawals with a debit card will cost clients €0.70 per transaction, up from the current €0.10.
A fee of €1 will be implemented for clients wishing to receive their account statements by post, in addition to the mailing costs.
The bank will raise the processing fees of checks to €4 from the current €1.50, with the fees charged for a bank transfer issued at the bank counter or via the Easy Banking Center also rising significantly, from €1.50 to €6.
Cash withdrawals and paper-based transfers will go from €1.50 to €2.
Bpost Banque
From next year, the bank will charge €0.50 for each transaction done via the instantaneous bank transfer service, a 24/7 service which enables users receiving a bank transfer to immediately access the funds.
The postal bank will also charge clients who wish to access and print dated statements €1.27 for the service, and will also charge €1.17, plus postal fees, for mailing bank statements to clients.
The bank's full list of revised prices for 2020 is available online.
Crelan
The cooperative, client-owned bank will namely rise the cost of mailing out bank statements to clients, with the fees for a quarterly mail-out rising to €0.50 from the current €0.25, the monthly fee rising from €0.75 to €1 and the weekly fee going from the current €3 to €4. The fee for a daily send-out will remain at €15.
Bank transfers to a non-Crelan bank account for holders of a current account who carry out the transaction at the counter will rise from €0.70 to €1.50.
The Brussels Times
