PASOK tabled an amendment on bank charges and transparency on loan interest rates, ahead of the government’s announcements.

This amendment, as stated by PASOK, seeks to put a barrier to practices of opacity and exploitation of the weakness of consumers.

According to the briefing note, the amendment: “Ensures the protection of borrowers who, due to unequal and non-transparent conditions, do not enjoy adequate protection with regard to the formation of the interest rate of the loan or credit. Furthermore, it deals, in a direct and crucial way, with the phenomenon of unscrupulous charges and commissions on the part of banks. Despite the development of electronic banking and the corresponding reduction in the operational costs of banks, the charges and expenses at the expense of customers not only did not decrease, but increased.

Banks are looking for reasons to impose charges and no longer hesitate to charge even simple transactions. Bank commissions are mushrooming. It is noteworthy that the net income from commissions of the Greek banking system in total amounted to 1.24 billion. euros in 2020 to 1.8 billion euros in 2023 (an increase of more than 44%), while in the first nine months of 2024 the net commission income of the four systemic banks has already exceeded 1.5 billion. euro.

In principle, with regard to variable lending rates, there are categories of loans and credits, where banks, using controversial and abusive terms, do not attribute to the interest rate the reduction to which borrowers are entitled from the now downward course of interbank rates and interest rates ECB. The problem is particularly acute in consumer and business credit, but also in a small category of housing loans. The provisions of paragraph 1 are intended to ensure that all consumers and all businesses will have the corresponding benefits from the reduction in interest rates. With them, terms in existing contracts are neutralized that undermine the performance of the reduction in interest rates for borrowers.
Furthermore, with regard to procurement, it is clear that many of them are unjustified, non-transparent and abusive. Banks charge consumers for services that have been paid for or for actions that ultimately relate to the fulfillment of their primary obligations to their customers.
It is so unacceptable to the banks

  • to charge deposit accounts with expenses when through the almost zero interest rates they ensure huge benefits but also the coverage of all operating costs,
  • to charge actions connected to the conclusion of e-banking contracts with which they save a lot of operational costs
  • to charge for issuing or re-issuing cards when they aim for the huge commissions they collect from using them as a means of payment;
  • to seek to collect, in addition to interest, additional fees under various pretexts from loan contracts;
  • claim 20, 30 or even 50 euros in order to grant the borrower a simple copy of his loan contract or the progress of the loan repayment,
  • claim, indeed, excessive amounts for the granting of a certificate or the provision of information, things that are their obligation in the context of the existing relationship,
  • to charge the repayment of utility bills when all banks participate and benefit from it,
  • demand money from the customer in order to cancel an illegal transaction that the customer has determined to have taken place.

The amendment expressly and categorically prohibits charges such as the above. Several of them have been deemed abusive by court decisions, despite this they hold a special place in the banks’ price lists. In order to further control any existing or appearing charge in terms of its expediency and transparency, banks are obliged, with the provision of the charges, to clarify the reason for the charge, i.e. whether it concerns their fee for providing a service or covering their operational expense, and justify its reasonable amount. This requirement promotes competition in banking services by revealing and controlling the basis of the charge, and is expected to contribute to the prevention and suppression of opaque and arbitrary charges, as it will facilitate, by declaring the cause, the control of their transparency and abuse.
In most cases, banks today essentially charge for obligations they have towards consumers in the context of the basic contract that connects them with them, for the fulfillment of which they are not justified in claiming any kind of remuneration or costs. After all, the fees are often set at such high levels that it is clear that they have nothing to do with covering any operational costs and are simply aimed at exploiting the bargaining power and need of consumers and profiting from them.
Besides, even in the cases where the charges concern interbank transactions, they are formed at unreasonably high levels, compared to those of other countries, which makes them particularly problematic in light of the rules of free competition. Consumers and small businesses are entitled to share in the benefits of the reduction in operational costs and the spread of payment systems. Citizens have the right to access at least one system of inexpensive interbank transactions, in order to cover basic daily and practical needs, the immediate formation and completion of which they immediately expect.
Finally, the imposition of the sanctions of article 13a n. 2251/1994 for the violators of the previous prohibitions. In view of the importance of the infringements in question for the consumer public, the obligation to process and evaluate the relevant complaints within a certain period of time is foreseen.