According to a recent DGCCRF survey, several banks have excessive fees on operations. So take the time to carefully examine your account statements to see if you are in this situation.

According to a recent DGCCRF survey, several banks have excessive fees on operations. So take the time to carefully examine your account statements to see if you are in this situation.

According to an investigation Recent from the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Repression of Frauds (DGCCRF), published in early March 2025, several banks in France are pinned for abusive tariff practices. This study, conducted on a hundred credit institutions, revealed that 17 of them violated the regulations, in particular in for the invoicing of intervention commissions. These costs, applied in the event of incidents on bank accounts, are supposed to be strictly supervised by law, but some banks seem to play with the rules, to the detriment of customers.

Intervention commissions, for example, must be capped at 8 euros per operation, with a monthly total not exceeding 80 euros. For financially fragile customers, these amounts are reduced to 4 euros per operation and 20 euros per month. However, some banks ignore these ceilings or illegally combine these costs with others, such as the costs of rejection of operations. Result: customers find themselves paying much more than that is allowed by law, without even being always aware of it. In some cases, costs were billed when there was no real irregularity on the account.

These misleading practices do not stop at the intervention commissions. Other shortcomings concern the lack of tariff information, which has been mandatory since 2019. Indeed, banks are required to make customers available to clear documents on applied prices. However, in several controlled agencies, this information was absent or misleading. Some establishments have even increased tariff increases despite price freezing commitments, or used surcharged numbers to reach their customer service, which is strictly prohibited.

For customers, these practices can be expensive, especially if they do not regularly monitor their bank statements. It is therefore essential to carefully check the amounts taken by your bank to ensure that the costs applied are well in accordance with the regulations. If you notice anomalies, do not hesitate to contact your bank or turn to consumer associations to assert your rights.

Fortunately, the majority of banking establishments respect their pricing commitments, but to avoid unpleasant surprises, it is possible to use tools like The bank fee comparator set up by the Ministry of the Economy. This completely free online service makes it possible to compare the prices charged by different banks and to choose the one that best corresponds to your needs while respecting your budget.