Are you eligible for a bank refund? If you have recently had incident charges, and in particular direct debit rejection charges, it is possible that you have. UFC-Que Choisir has just launched a new alert on the questionable practices of banking establishments. The consumer association calls on the government to “bring the excesses of the banks to heel” in this area.

Each year, the costs of banking incidents reach colossal sums: 1.8 billion euros per year. They concern all transactions refused by a bank (checks or direct debits).

If the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, had put in place for the most vulnerable customers a cap of 25 euros per month for this type of fee, this did not solve the problem of multiple Specimens. However, these punctures made wrongly represent 20% of the costs of rejection of direct debits, i.e. an overpayment of 400 million euros per year.

Because, when a direct debit is rejected once, the creditor renews his request within 4 to 10 days. In the event that the account has not been bailed out, new rejection fees (€20 on average) are then levied. A double penalty for the customer, already in difficulty.

However, the bank adviser is supposed to verify the origin of the direct debit and must only apply these costs once per creditor. What to do in case of non-compliance with this rule?

Are you a victim of this practice? Many are unaware of it, but it is possible to be reimbursed for the costs incurred. Que Choisir also provides a model letter on its site.

“Apart from the Banque Postale and BRED Banque Populaire, which automatically retrocede the entire surcharge, 90% of the banks simply do not inform their customers of this right on their tariff plate. So how can we be surprised that it is rarely used in practice by consumers, as the repression of fraud recently noted?”, questions the association.

For more practicality, it requires the automation of the process. The bank could thus reimburse its customers directly.