Which Banks Charge the Highest Commissions?

According to a recent survey carried out by the consumer organisation Facua, Barclays, Santander, Unicaja and La Caixa are the banks that charge the highest commissions.

On average, if you do not have your wages, pension or unemployment benefit paid into your account, banks charge around 168,73 euro in maintenance charges per annu. The highest charges in this case are outlined below:

• Barclays: 271,41 euro
• Santander: 248,40 euro
• Unicaja: 242,40 euro
• La Caixa: 239,90 euro

The Banks that have the lowest charges are:

• ING Direct: 25 euro
• Triodos Bank: 30 euro

A total of 16 banks have been analysed for the purpose of the study, and they all drop the majority of their charges if you have your wages, pension or benefits paid into your account each month. This is provided that they reach a minimum determined figure, which is generally around 600 euro.

The majority of entities eliminate the charges associated with owning a credit card so long as the client makes one purchase a year and has their bills paid by direct debit through their account.

To avoid paying the majority of commissions and charges, the banks generally demand that you pay in a monthly income of up to 5,000 euro in the case of Barclays, or 1,000 for Bankinter.

If wages or a pension are involved, the minimum amount asked for by the bank is usually 600 euro a month. This applies to Abanca, BBVA, La Caixa, Deutsche Bank, Banco Mare Nostrum, Banco Popular, Santander and Unicaja.

There are only two entities that do not charge any maintenance or administration commission at all, whether you have wages paid in or not – ING Direct and Triodos Bank.

Card payments

Almost every bank drops the annual maintenance charges for having a debit card if the clients has his wages paid into his account.

In the case of credit cards, almost half of the entities will continue to charge a maintenance fee whether a monthly income is paid in or not.

Payments to a third party

Almost all of the banks will charge a commission for paying in cash in person into a third party’s account. Cajasur and Kutxabank will charge 4 euro for this service, while Abanca, Barclays, Santander y Unicaja charge 3 euro and Bankinter, La Caixa, Kutxabank y Sabadell charge 2 euro.

Source: www.abc.es