The new Payment Services Act, which is presently undergoing preparatory work at the Ministry of Justice, will eventually bring about several changes that improve the consumer's position. However, the draft bill for the new Payment Services Act also raises certain concerns. Among other things, the fate of the free of charge account statement appears to hang in the balance.
The draft which was circulated for comment last spring would make it possible that consumers might only be able to get a free of charge account statement via online banking. Hard copies of account statements would then be subject to charges. The information might only be available in the online banking service for a period of one year, which clearly is not long enough. The government's final proposal for the Payment Services Act will be handed to the Parliament in the beginning of September. The objective is to have the legislation in force in the beginning of November.
According to the draft bill for the Payment Services Act, the consumer and the payment service provider, e.g. a bank, may agree that account statements are only provided on a data network. In practice, the data network would refer to e.g. an online banking service. Information should be made available to the payer for a period of at least one year and the payer must be able to store and reproduce the information from the online bank. Collecting a fee for account statements available in an online bank would not be permitted. However, a consumer who wishes to have an account statement stretching for a period of more than one year, or who wants a hard copy of his account statement, could be charged a fee.
When the matter at hand is one that broadly affects all consumers, it should be considered that not everyone has their own computer and printer. Certainly there are computers available in places such as libraries, but how far from the consumer are they located, are they sufficient in number and can everyone use them well enough to manage their bank affairs?
Move towards electronic account statements calls for incentives
A bank account is a consumer's basic right, which is defined in the Act on Credit Institutions. An integral part of using an account is the account statement, which must be available to all consumers. The proposed broad freedom of contract does not take the position of disadvantaged consumers as users of essential services sufficiently into consideration. Because of this, the consumer must continue to have the right to a free of charge printed account statement if he so chooses.
Consumers' move to use an electronic account statement can be encouraged with a carrot, but not with a stick. Those choosing to use an electronic account statement can, for instance, be given discounts on service fees.
Account statements need to be available for at least three years
The proposed one year minimum for the availability of account statements online is not sufficient. Consumers need account statements for a much longer time. A business' receivables from a consumer generally expire in three years, and it is not unusual for a faulty invoicing system to send the same invoice twice. Naturally, consumers must be able to confirm whether such invoices from some years back have been received and paid or not. If the relevant information is only available online for a period of one year, the meticulous consumer must print or otherwise store information in his own records for a period of at least three years. However, it's completely reasonable to ask why would this information not be maintained online for a period that is sufficiently long to meet the consumer's needs.
A mere notification is not enough when account statement practices are changed
The draft bill of the Payment Services Act does not require that banks change their current practices regarding account statements. Therefore, changes to account statement practices may not be implemented unless they are separately agreed on with the client.
The necessary changes required by the Payment Services Directive, on the other hand, can be implemented by a so-called simplified procedure, i.e. notifying the customer of the changes at least one month before they take effect. Changes are then implemented unless the customer specifically objects to them. In practice, a customer's objection in such cases of legislative change leads to a termination of the account.