PKO BP collected fees on each withdrawal of cash from account in its agencies. The practices of the bank were against the law – stated the UOKiK’s President. The entrepreneur committed to change them

The proceedings against the bank were instigated after a complaint of a consumer on collecting fees for cash withdrawal from the account in the PKO BP agencies was filed. The agencies provide services to the PKO BP’s customers based on authorisation granted them by the bank.

In course of the proceedings, the Office stated that one of the fees and commissions tariff’s provisions charges the owners of accounts held by PKO BP with a fee in the amount of 1 PLN for each cash withdrawal made in the bank’s agencies. 

In the opinion of UOKiK, collecting fees for each withdrawal of cash from the account in the PKO BP agencies is against the law. Such fee constitutes a supplementary charge (with regard to fixed charges for holding the account), making it difficult for the consumer to assess the actual costs of a savings and current account service. Similar provisions had already been entered to the register of abusive clauses.

The PKO BP bank committed to withdraw from collecting the challenged fees and to eliminate relevant provisions from its regulations. The changes are to be introduced before 31 October 2014.

The customers of banks will obtain free help from the poviat or municipal consumer ombudsmen in municipal offices or poviat starosties or under the telephone number 800 007 707 from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The consumers may also obtain free advice in the local branch offices of the Consumer Federation. Moreover, disputes between the consumers and banks in the scope of monetary claims to the amount of 8 thousand PLN are resolved by the Bank Arbiter.

Additional information for the media:

Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel. 22 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 314
Fax 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]