The Dutch consumer association (Consumtenbond) has calculated that the costs of a bank account in The Netherlands have increased by an average of 42% in 5 years. This seems bad news to the consumer and in a direct sense it is. But for the banks this is an absolute necessity and consumers should actually pay even more for payment services.
A good payment infrastructure, and the Netherlands has this, simply costs money and the banks must make up for these costs somewhere. In the past, high interest rates helped cover a part of the costs. But mainly business account holders take care of the cost coverage. These business customers incorporate the costs, invisibly and often with surcharges, into the product price.
You can almost say that it becomes cheaper for the consumer when the banks increase their fee. And there is certainly room for that. Compared to consumers in many other European countries, the Dutch consumer pays little for payments, see also my previous blog. And in these other countries the payment system is not as inefficient as is thought.
Read the article (Dutch only) on the website of Consumentenbond
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