Bank card: what it costs you more in 2023

Crédit Agricole, BNP, CIC or Société Générale, French financial institutions are increasing their account maintenance and bank card prices from February 2, 2023. Fairly discreet increases for basic current accounts, but more substantial for banking packages with several holders and additional services (increased payment limits, withdrawals abroad, insurance, etc.). This is the result of the latest study conducted by the consumer association CLCV. How much will your bank charges increase in 2023?

For users of basic single-member bank accounts, the bill will remain relatively stable, with slight increases ranging from 0.2% to 0.6% at more than half of financial institutions. With regard to large consumers (bank accounts with more than two holders), the basket of services will be more expensive on February 1, 2023 than on February 1, 2022 in two thirds of the establishments, the average cost of all banks being respectively in increase of 1.24% and 0.89%. These increases, explains the CLCV association, will be observable during the performance of certain operations, in particular PEL transfers, the cashing of bank checks, the entry of attribution or the making of transfers in branches.

Essential for any payment in store or on the internet, bank cards will also undergo more or less significant price increases depending on the financial institution and the type of card (immediate debit, credit or prepaid). These increases are mainly due to limits on the number of free withdrawals offered, the reduction of insurance deductibles or the increase in the price of the secondary bank card, and will therefore go unnoticed by a large number of customers. For example, and according to the CLCV report, the customer of Crédit Agricole Alsace Vosges will pay more than 3 withdrawals instead of 4 with a classic Visa or Mastercard card and at the Banque Populaire Val de France, only the two first withdrawals are free compared to 3 previously.

Overall, banks have delivered on commitments to government. In September 2022, the latter asked companies in the financial sector to contribute to the general effort in an inflationary economic context. In a press release, they insisted on the importance of maintaining the old tariffs and limiting price increases. “Some establishments whose prices usually change in January have postponed the date of entry into force of their new prices in order to have time to comply with the commitments”, explains the CLCV.