About half of Italian current account holders give their bank between 24 and 51 euros each year for current account expenses. Money that, very often, would be easy to save: it would be enough to check the rates that the credit institution has introduced after signing up for the account. In this way – according to a study published by the Bank of Italy and edited by the economist Nicola Branzoli – the reduction in costs should be substantial, between 38 and 68% of the total.
In short, it is necessary to overcome laziness and control the basic fee of the account, which after years of competition between institutions is often reduced to zero. Consequently, the accounts on which it is most important to carry out these reviews are the oldest ones, opened when competition between banks was still a chimera. The people most at risk are therefore the elderly, who very often, under the pressure of habit, are the most reluctant to change anything in their relations with the bank.
Yet, according to calculations, for each year of relationship with the credit institution there is at least one euro that could be saved simply by asking for rates to be updated. According to Bankitalia's analysis, it would be useful to induce consumers to reconsider their choice of the most suitable current account every eight years. Always keeping in mind a golden rule: to avoid unnecessary expenses at the counter, the most important basic criterion is to choose an online account.
