The bad news from ING earlier this week hit like a bomb. The largest direct bank in Germany introduces penalty interest and wants its customers’ money. But there is a trick that every saver can use to avoid the penalty interest.
A few days ago ING announced that customers will have to pay penalty interest much faster in the future. The largest direct bank in Germany halves the allowance. For ING customers this means: If you have too much money in your account, you have to pay a custody fee. Whether new or existing customers: From November 1st, all ING customers will have to pay penalty interest.
THIS IS HOW YOU TRICK THE ING
If the ING previously had an allowance of 100,000 euros, all savers will soon have to pay penalty interest from a balance of 50,000 euros. The direct bank demands 0.5 percent. At 50,000 euros, that’s 250 euros per year. Anyone who thinks that 50,000 euros is a lot: In the context of the penalty interest announcement , ING announced that currently 760,000 customers in Germany are reaching or exceeding this account balance. But there is a little trick you can use to avoid the penalty interest.
Anyone who has a current account and a call money account with ING – the ING calls it an extra account – can have up to 50,000 euros there without having to pay penalty interest. Example: If you have 2,000 euros in your current account and 55,000 euros in the ING call money account, you would have to pay penalty interest. However, if you shift around 6,000 euros from the extra account to your current account, you bypass the custody fee. Since savers only receive 0.001 percent interest on the call money account anyway – i.e. just 50 cents a year with a balance of 50,000 euros – this is not a problem. This means you can save a total of up to 100,000 euros on both accounts. But if you come across it here or there, penalty interest will be due.
PENALTY INTEREST VIOLATES THE GERMAN BASIC LAW
According to the comparison portal Verivox, 349 banks are currently charging negative interest rates from private customers. That is almost twice as many as at the end of 2020. However, it remains to be seen whether banks like ING will even get away with the penalty interest. Because: The negative interest rate policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) is assessed as unconstitutional in an expert opinion. Such a monetary policy means the expropriation of savers and violates the right to private property guaranteed in the German constitution and in European law, explains the former Federal Constitutional Judge Paul Kirchhof in a legal opinion for the Sparda banks.
“With the negative interest rate, the saver is expropriated, although the state is in principle not allowed to access private property. This is unconstitutional and also contradicts European law, “Kirchhof told the newspaper” Die Welt “. The consumer advice center also wants to clarify in court whether custody fees, as ING, Commerzbank and Co. call the penalty interest, are allowed at all. And has filed five lawsuits.
