The financial institutions in Spain have raised their commissions by some 15% for money transfers, the use of credit cards, credits and mortgages according to information released by the Bank of Spain today.
Banks and Savings Banks (cajas de ahorros) have raised their commissions for maintaining current accounts and savings accounts by 15% compared to December 2010 from 25.8 euros to 25.16 euros and commissions for transfers from 0.30 euros to 0.34 euros.
The commission for a report on the cost of a loan has risen from 0.85% to 0.95%, a increase of 11.7% and the commission for actually taking out the loan has risen from 3.19% to 5.6%.
A formal report for a mortgage will now cost 0.89% of final price, an increase of 0.15 percentage points in six months. The cost of actually taking out the mortgage increases from 2.71% to 2.71%, an average cost of 662 euros, while the anticipated cancellation of the same carries a commission of 4.07% compared to 4.02% six months ago. If you pay your mortgage off in advance of the set period the cost has risen to 1.83%, some 465 euros, compared to 415 euros six months ago.
The Organization of Consumer and Service Users (OCU) has warned that commissions charged by banks “continue to rise” and refers to a study by the European Commission which shows that citizens in Spain pay the second highest bank charges in the EU, an average of 178 euros annually, second only to the Italians who pay an average of 253 euros.
