National Bank: Court decision to abolish charges

A court decision puts a final end to the illegal, as characterized by EKPOIZO, imposition of a monthly charge of 0,80 euros on National Bank customer deposit accounts.

Strong reactions had been provoked in recent months by the move of the National Bank of Greece, which automatically (and without the consent of customers) converted their bank accounts from "simple savings/simple current" to a "privilege account" with a monthly fee of 0,80 euros.

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The Bank had attempted to justify this move, however, it did not "convince" customers and consumer associations who took legal action, demanding the obvious, namely the removal of this horizontal - non-compliant and illegal practice.

More specifically, following a lawsuit by EKPOIZO, the Multi-Member Court of First Instance of Athens, with its decision number 128/2026, prohibits National Bank from imposing the monthly charge of 0,80 euros on its customers who maintain "Simple Savings" or "Simple Current" accounts with it.

The decision was characterized as temporarily enforceable, meaning it has immediate application. However, National Bank, in a statement, claims that EKPOIZO is "distorting" the content of the court decision.

Misleading information

As the consumer association emphasizes in its announcement, the banking institution had sent letters last year informing consumers who held the above deposit accounts, stating that it would convert them into “privilege” accounts, that is, that they would be able to carry out a series of transactions for free. For this reason, their accounts would be charged 0,80 euros per month, regardless of whether the consumers made use of the alleged privileges.

The Multi-Member Court of First Instance ruled that the information in question was misleading as certain transactions that the Bank claimed would now be offered free of charge were already free.

The Court's decision

The Court ruled that the Bank violated its obligations of transparency and clear information under Law 4537/18 and Directive 2015/2366 on payment services. It therefore obliges the bank to cease charging consumers the above monthly charge.

At the same time, it imposed a fine of 50.000 euros on the bank and the obligation to reverse the charges imposed on consumers due to the above illegal method.

Other banks in the "gulf"

As stated to aftodioikisi.gr by the president of EKPOIZO, Ms. Panagiota Kalapotharakou, Piraeus Bank was preparing to do something similar in the near future.

Both Alpha Bank and Eurobank have made similar moves.

A corresponding representative action by EKPOIZO against Alpha Bank was heard on April 1, and the decision is expected.

aftodioikisi.gr

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