The Greek Consumer Workers’ Union of GSEE has been receiving a number of complaints from debtors who have been faced with freezing (arbitrary or not) of their bank account, as it notes in its announcement, with instructions for the confiscation of accounts.
According to EEKE: “For another year, before the Christmas and New Year holidays, banks are making bank account commitments, especially for debts to the government.
Banks seem to be indifferent to whether the debtor’s account has been declared unsecured, or the payroll or pension account, resulting in freezing amounts even below the unsecured limit, especially in joint accounts where one of the co-beneficiaries is the debtor. Reasonable consumer / debtor complaints are answered vaguely, sending the matter to the central services, where the service is minimal.
The consumer should be aware that he has another type of protection from foreclosure due to debts to the State and another due to debts to individuals / banks:
In the first case (debts to the State) are excluded from the seizure in the hands of third parties, including: Deposits in credit institutions in individual or joint account are unsecured up to the amount of 1,250 euros per month for each individual and in a single credit institution. The implementation of this regulation requires notification by the natural person of a single account, by submitting an electronic declaration to the information system of the tax administration. As long as there is a periodic credit account for salaries, pensions and insurance benefits, this account is disclosed exclusively.
This means that any commitment of an amount below the limit of 1,250 euros from the banks, on the declared unsecured account, is not legal and must be terminated immediately.
But beware: In case of a joint account, the unsecured limit of 1,250 euros applies to each of the co-beneficiaries, only if both have declared the same account as unseized. Otherwise, consumers risk confiscation of amounts even below the threshold, since the law says that the amount in the joint bank account belongs to the beneficiaries in equal parts. That is, if the amount of the pension is deposited in an account, e.g. 1,000 euros and the co-beneficiary of the same account is a debtor of the state, the bank can freeze an amount of 500 euros, ie an amount below the unseized limit.
Also: if retroactive amounts are paid (salaries or pensions) the banks do not have the right to consider the amount as a whole but to reduce it on a monthly basis in order to determine if the unsecured limit is met. It is illegal for banks to seize retroactive amounts without carrying out the relevant audit for the reason for the origin of this amount.
In the second case (debts to individuals / banks) salaries, pensions and insurance benefits are unsecured for the entire amount, without restriction. Also, with art. 20 of Law 4161/2013, it is provided that deposits up to 1,500 euros in an individual account and up to 2,000 euros in a joint account are unsecured.
Caution: In order to protect the unsecured limit, however (when the account is payroll or pension) it must be declared as such to the banking institution. In other words, the same account must be declared as unsecured both to the AADE and to the bank (that is, to which the salary or pension is deposited) in order for the protection to apply.
Note: While for the public sector, the unsecured amount of 1,250 euros remains even in the event that salaries / pensions accumulate for more than a month, this does not apply to private / bank debts. Therefore, the consumer / debtor must undertake the amount no later than the same day of the payment of the salary / pension, because from the next day it loses its “status” as unseized and can be confiscated “.
The aim of EEKE, as it is underlined, is for consumers not to feel unprotected against banks, and reiterates that, for any problem, complaint or complaint, related to transactions with credit institutions, consumers can turn to the union.
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