Quote:
Originally Posted by MostlyHarmless
Those terms and conditions have existed in Europe for decades. This only applies to savings accounts, not checking or other forms. By law banks are allowed to demand an advanced notice of the withdrawal 3 months ahead and under that condition, one can withdraw any amount without any fee. One has the right to withdraw without the notice, but that costs a fee that is calculated as a negative interest based on the amount withdrawn and the time of notice remaining. Most banks give their customers some grace amount, where they waive the fee if one only withdraws say €1000 within 30 days. And the law limits the negative interest, which is tied to the interest rate the savings account earns at the time of withdrawal.
The reasoning behind all this is that banks in Europe have to deposit a part of the money on checking and savings accounts with the central/federal bank as safety deposit. The percentage they must deposit is lower for savings accounts, because savings accounts are not supposed to be short term investments.
Banks also offer savings accounts with advanced notice terms of 1 and up to 4 years. They yield higher interest rates.
Jan
|
Thanks for the info.
However, i don't really care why they do it. Just the fact that they can tell you when and how much money you can withdrawl bugs me. It's your money!!!
Hope it doesn't get to that point here.