Raising fees has become the new Swiss banking trend, and the latest to fall in line is Bank Coop. The bank is raising the fees of bank account/Maestro card combos, its core product, starting on October 1, 2015.
Affected accounts include checking accounts, euro checking accounts, foreign-currency accounts, rental deposit accounts and construction credit accounts.
Up until now, the basic account fees have been 5 francs per month, or 60 francs per annum. Customers who wanted to do all their banking online pay an additional 2 francs per month, or 24 francs per annum.
Now, the basic account fees for customers who have a mortgage, a bank service package or deposits worth more than 25,000 francs at Bank Coop will pay an additional 1 franc per month, or 12 francs per year, above their current fees.
Additionally, a 10-franc fee will be charged for additional account statements (quarterly statements, for example) above the free-of-charge statement provided at the end of each calendar year. An exception is made for construction credit accounts, for which quarterly statements are provided free of charge.
The annual fee for Bank Coop Maestro debit cards is being raised to 40 francs. Up until now, a 30-franc annual fee applied.
The discount which checking account holders under the age of 25 have benefited from so far is also being done away with.
The hikes in fees coincide with Bank Coop’s introduction of new bank packages on October 1, 2015. Like many other larger Swiss banks, Bank Coop hopes that higher fees for individual services will provide customers with an incentive to adopt its new, combined-service solutions.
The moneyland.ch comparison tool already accounts for the new fees.
More on this topic:
Bank Coop checking account details
Swiss bank account comparison
Bank package-deals compared
