The right to a basic payment account

Holding and using a payment account is the very basis of financial inclusion for individuals. Without an account, individuals would face difficulties in their everyday functioning in society. The Payment Services, Electronic Money Issuance Services and Payment Systems Act stipulates that any consumer without a payment account who legally resides in the EU should have a basic payment account at their disposal, and may request the opening of an account of this kind at any bank or savings bank.

The fundamental purpose of the basic payment account is ensuring financial inclusion, and so they are also intended for people with no fixed address, asylum-seekers, and those whose residence permit has not been granted but whose expulsion is impossible for legal or factual reasons.

Banks and savings banks must inform any consumer whose application to open an ordinary transaction account is being refused or whose transaction account is being closed of their right to a basic payment account, unless the legal conditions for refusing an application to open a basic payment account are also met.

Consumers must specifically request the opening of a basic payment account, as an application to open a transaction account is not the same as an application to open a basic payment account. The bank or savings bank may only refuse a consumer’s application to open a basic payment account in cases explicitly stipulated by law. Special rules also apply to the unilateral withdrawal from the contract by the bank or savings bank.

More information you can find in leaflet “Nobody without a payment account“