Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2012. La Caixa’s banking business had moved to CaixaBank in 2011, and the Línea Abierta online platform was later replaced by CaixaBank Now; the fees described reflect that time.
It never ceases to amaze me how, with the banking sector’s reputation as damaged as it is in the public eye, some banks keep up their old tricks. As you all know, banks are trying to get customers to stop going into the branch for their banking and use the ATM and their online account instead (Línea Abierta, in this case). And, to be fair, La Caixa has been a pioneer in Spain in making it easy for customers to do their banking online and through its multi-function ATMs. My sincere congratulations, because at this rate they will be able to do without a large share of their staff.
Well, I have banked with La Caixa for as long as I can remember. I know they are not the cheapest when it comes to fees, although there are some fees I don’t mind paying. I haven’t even complained about the new €4.75 charge they now take every month under the heading SERVICTA ESTRELLA, a charge I haven’t asked about, although I assume it is for account and card maintenance. I didn’t pay it before and now I do. Fine so far, but… now they want to charge for using the online platform, and that strikes me as a huge joke.
Just yesterday, when I logged into La Caixa’s online platform, I was greeted by a notice on the screen.
It said that I had made intensive use of the platform, so they could no longer keep the service free. If I use the platform 100 times, they will charge me €100, plus another €50 for every additional 100 sessions. In other words, under these conditions I should have paid €150 last month, since sessions on the platform expire: if you leave it open and don’t reload the page, after 5 minutes you have to log in again.
Clearly my use is… let’s call it intensive, because I have their investment platform and I trade shares through it. Suppose I open positions at 9:00 in the morning and go for a coffee. By the time I get back, I have to start a new session.
I won’t go into the money I make for them every day or every week just in commissions on buying and selling shares. I haven’t even been to the bank yet to talk to them about this “revolutionary tax” they want to charge. I imagine that if I talked to the branch manager the fee would disappear, but the mere fact that they try to charge it to see if they can get away with it offends me deeply. It is treating you like a fool: we are talking about paying, basically, €1 for every connection.
One thing is clear to me: I am not going to pay a single euro for the platform. If it came to that, it would be time to cut ties with this bank, even though I like the service they provide as a broker.
Trying to charge this fee is not usury, since usury is lending at excessive interest. This is an attempted robbery, plain and simple.
Gentlemen of La Caixa, I think you need to start changing your mindset or your business model. Otherwise, one day you will have to explain how a bank stays profitable when it has no customers.
Featured image: Zarateman, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
