It's a measure that saw the light of day at the end of 2018, at the height of the yellow vest crisis: banks are now required to charge no more than €25 per month in incident fees on the accounts of the most financially fragile customers. While progress has been made, not all establishments comply with this cap. Bercy is continuing to monitor the situation, and plans to publish a list of banks that fail to meet their commitments.
What criteria define a financially vulnerable customer?
To find out what these criteria are, please refer to article R 312-4-3 of the French Monetary and Financial Code.
Two criteria are clearly defined and objectively applicable. The following are considered fragile
- Customers who have been registered for three consecutive months in the Banque de France's file of cheque payment incidents, in other words, people who have been banned from banking.
- Those who have filed an acceptable application for overindebtedness with the Banque de France.
Other criteria are more vague and open to interpretation. A customer may be considered "fragile" if his or her account shows repeated irregularities and payment incidents over three consecutive months. However, the article does not specify the number of payment incidents this "repeated" character must exceed.
Similarly, the French Monetary and Financial Code specifies that establishments must take into consideration "the amount of resources credited to the account", without providing any further details.
Banks therefore have some leeway in deciding who they grant "fragile customer" status to. At the end of 2018, the Banque de France estimated that this measure could benefit 3.6 million people.
Mixed results and tighter controls
In a survey published at the end of October 2019, the Union nationale des associations familiales (UNAF) and the association 60 millions de consommateurs believe that banks' commitments are not being kept.
To back up their claims, the two associations carried out a test with 104 customers in serious financial difficulty. They asked them to request a meeting with their bank advisor to find a solution to limit the costs associated with banking incidents. The results were bitter: of the 104 people who took part in the test, 78% of customers meeting the objective criteria of over-indebtedness and/or banking prohibition did not benefit from any cap on charges.
After a meeting with their advisor, only 27% of customers had part of their costs refunded.
On the other hand, according to the Banque de France, based on information provided by the Observatoire de l'Inclusion Bancaire (OIB) and theAutorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), "the initial figures show that banks have met their commitments and made significant progress with fragile customers".
Bercy endorses these conclusions, while acknowledging that "the checks carried out have nevertheless revealed occasional shortcomings in the application of commitments and regulations ".
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Secretary of State for the Economy, has announced that new controls will be carried out. Banks failing to meet their commitments will be given formal notice to rectify their practices, and the list of establishments failing to comply may be made public.
In addition, the Observatoire de l'Inclusion Bancaire has published a series of criteria to better define fragile customers. Banks are now invited to apply these recommendations.