Caixa Geral de Depósitos raises charges again

The state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos has raised its bank charges again — this time for some bank services and products such as cheque withdrawals at branches which will triple.

Last month the bank, led by Paulo Macedo, put the cost of online bank transfer charges up by 60%.
This time it is targetting the bank’s cheapest account package, university student accounts for students over 26 and cheque withdrawals in branches, all of which come into force in May.
Last year, CGD made reasonable profits after losses in the first two quarters of 2017. In the third quarter of 2018 it made €175 million and in the fourth quarter it made €126 million.
From 15 May Caixa customers who have the Caixa S account — “package account” which is the institution’s cheapest — and who benefit from monthly charge with subsidy who currently pay €2.50 (€2.60 with Stamp Duty), will from May 15 pay €2.80 (€2.91 with Stamp Duty) corresponding to an increase of 12%.
Conta S which charges a flat fee account maintenance cost offers a debit card and two credit transfers per month. The basic cost of this service is €4 per month plus Stamp Duty, an amount which will remain the same.
The cost increase will affect only those customers who have their ´S´ Account linked to their permanent tax residence or to a financial patrimony equal to or above €5000, the necessary conditions to have a subsidy on their monthly charges.
On other complete packages, CGD will not alter its charging policy. The increase in charges will affect around 1.5 million customers who signed up to CGD package accounts in mid-2017. Caixa has around 3.3 million customers.
Also from 15 May, customers who withdraw money using cheques will now pay €2.75 or 175% more than the current charge of €1.04.