Portuguese banks will soon be more limited in charging fees for various banking operations. A bill approved by Parliament on Friday 14th April puts an end to the charging of abusive fees to all customers who have mortgage loans or loans for other purposes. Until now, only the most recent loans, taken out from January 2021 onwards, were exempt from paying such bank charges.
In the middle of April, the Portuguese Government approved, in a final overall vote, a law which includes the end of charging abusive fees to all customers who have credit, proceeding with the first amendment to Law no. 57/2020. It should be recalled that this law provided for the end of some abusive bank fees, but only covered contracts made from January 2021.
This means that, until now, all older contracts, made up to January 2021, would continue to pay such abusive bank fees. It is worth noting that the fee for processing the monthly instalment can reach 30 euros per year, on average. And it is estimated that around 2 million housing loans are covered by these fees, writes Dinheiro Vivo.
With this new law, no credit contract will have to pay abusive bank fees, thus favouring equal treatment between newer and older contracts. It should be noted that the ban on charging commissions for the provision of contracts before 2021 will come into force 30 days after the publication of the law in the Diário da República. After being approved by Parliament, the document will still have to be promulgated by the President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The new rules on commissions also provide that, for the duration of the transitional regime that facilitates the renegotiation of credits (to cope with the increase in interest rates), banks may not require the purchase of associated services or products (insurance, credit cards or even material goods) in the renegotiation.
The approved bill also includes another modification within the scope of the regime that allows early redemption of retirement savings plans up to the monthly limit of a Social Support Index (and which is in force until the end of this year) and which now allows the use of this money "for the purpose of early redemption of the credit contracts referred to therein, up to the annual limit of 12 IAS".
This bill also limits the charging of bank commissions in other situations, such as in the event of death, and doubles the number of transfers by home banking or own applications, free of charge.
That is, according to the new law, it also limits the charging of fees for changes in account ownership, in case of death of one of the spouses and in the process of qualification of heirs. Furthermore, banks are prevented from charging fees in cases of divorce, dissolution of de facto unions, or in the processes of "removal of deceased account holders", as well as in the case of "changes of account holders, representatives and other persons with powers to process demand deposits", accounts held by real estate condominiums, private institutions of social solidarity (...), or legal persons recognised as being of public utility (...)" .
On the other hand, banks may no longer charge "any commission" for "photocopies of documents of the institution that concern the consumer", "issuance of duplicate bank statements or other documents", and in the context of currency deposits, "credit institutions may not charge commissions exceeding 2% of the value of the transaction".
In addition, the bill also includes the doubling, from the current 24 to 48, of free transfers, made through home banking or own applications, in minimum service accounts. The no fees charged on these accounts now include "intra-bank transfers, transfers made through ATMs, 48 inter-bank transfers, per calendar year, made through homebanking or own applications, five transfers, per month, with a limit of 30 euros per transaction, made through payment applications operated by third parties".