Deco is shocked by the general increase in Portugal's banking charges this summer. The association for consumer protection has highlighted the 'coincidence' of price rises during the month of August, when many people are on holiday.
State-owned Novo Banco has hiked its prices and has made it harder for customers to qualify for interest payments on current accounts.
Nuno Rico, from Deco, said that "there was a set of price rises in August from several banking institutions. We highlight at least four: Novo Banco, BPI, Caixa Geral de Depósitos and what is now called EuroBic."
Deco advises customers to be aware of the new prices and, if possible, look for alternatives in the market - but this is not always so easy.
According to the Banking Clients Defence Association (ABESD) Novo Banco certainly lacks transparency, "The bank seems to have used the holidays to ensure that the increase in commissions is not public knowledge," says the association which also called the increases are unacceptable and blamed the lead given by Caixa Geral's Paulo Macedo.
In May, BPI hiked its charges as from the beginning of August. Last week, António Ramalho’s Novo Banco decided that customers need to deposit more money to qualify for free banking.
Until now it was enough to have €5,000 on deposit at Novo banco to be exempt from fees, this has risen to a whopping €35,000.
At Caixa Geral de Depósitos, from September, only clients over 65 years old with a pension of less than €835.50 will remain exempt from charges. This hits 700,000 accounts, which, said Caixa Geral’s president Paulo Macedo last month, "pay zero" for banking services, adding that charging the public higher fees is an easy way for the bank to turn a profit.
Portugal’s banks are unpopular enough, with the public rightly claiming that it has been saddled with many of the losses accrued over years of mismanagement and corruption.
