The bank account no longer bears interest but expenses fall
Withdrawals by banks from account holders' reserves to remunerate deposit management have returned to the levels applied before the pandemic
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Interest income, that is, on the money that some of us manage to keep in our current accounts, are now a thing of the past. Indeed, they often do not even cover the expenses that the bank requires from us, even if now inflation is reappearing due above all to the increases in the prices of heating and automotive fuels and, consequently, some zero point interest on deposits could timidly reappear. But it would be, of course, moderately good news within a decidedly bad one like, in fact, the stellar prices of petrol, diesel and gas.
However, there is a small, good news from the banking front, and it can only be pleasing considering that, in those parts, it almost never reaches the ears of account holders. The news is this: over a year and a half after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the costs for keeping current accounts have dropped to the point of reaching those charged when the Coronavirus was still unknown. Of course, the expenses for online accounts remain even lower, but those for the - so to speak - traditional account have collapsed.
This is what a survey of the Sostariffe.it website established, which analyzed the trend of online current accounts by comparing the data of January 2020 (therefore before the Covid catastrophe) with those of September 2021, therefore very recent.
Turning to the figures, the site's experts concluded that the annual expenditure for management has been reduced by 9%: an average of 131 euros was spent, now 120 is enough, and the calculation is on an annual basis. And, as mentioned, the rates charged for non-online accounts fall, ie those available to those who want to go to the bank personally.
To conduct the research, the Sostariffe.it site took into consideration the expenses charged to account holders by 33 different banks in Italy, analyzing those that can be used on the Internet and those with presence at the counter.
As for the traditional ones, activated by banks that have branches in which to welcome current account holders on the national territory, which are of three types: those that do not even touch the Internet and are managed entirely in the branches, the mixed ones that allow operations at the counter and on line and, finally, the only electronic ones as regards use, although the money we keep there is physically deposited in a traditional bank.
Research has shown that even today Internet banking continues to be cheaper: in this case, account holders' spending fell by 13%. Translated into euros, the figure means that immediately before the pandemic the bill cost 123 euros a year, now 107. As for singles, the savings compared to January 2020 is 11%, which means that they can now save a ten euros: before they spent 90 euros a year, now 80. Drop of 14%, however, for bank accounts in the name of couples, which previously cost 129 euros and now 112 are enough. Same percentage drop for household accounts: they spent 150 euros before the pandemic, and today 129 is enough.
The account data with mixed use (in the branch and on the Internet), now you save 10% compared to January 2020: 151 euros annually before, 136 now. The savings margin for singles is good thanks to a reduction of 8% (from 117 to 108 euros), better for couples (less 10%, from 158 to 142 euros a year), the family with a saving of 11%: from 177 to 158 euros.
And then there are the "hard and pure" of the presence in the branch, and who do not want to know about the Internet as regards the management of the bank account. It is true that they did not have to suffer increases during the pandemic, but for them the management costs continue to be higher than those with an online-only or mixed bank / Internet account. However, even those with an account that can only be managed at the bank counter can save compared to before the pandemic: 8%, to be precise. He paid 194 euros before, he spends 178 now. Modest decline for singles (6%, from 174 to 164 euros per year). Couples are better, with a 10% cut in operating costs (from 186 to 168 euros). Families save 9%, from 221 to 201 euros.
Then there is bad news for those who have opened an account in an online bank only, which means that they do not have physical agencies (or have very few): they spend 3% more, while everyone else saves, but it translates into two euros: from the previous 58 to the current 60 euros.
