Since cheques have been eliminated, Belgian government agencies (e.g. tax offices) often require people to supply a bank account number to receive money (e.g. tax refunds). Taxpayers apparently cannot get a tax refund without submitting a bank account number. So the question is, since paying tax in an obligation, does that make banking a right in Belgium?
If so, the next question is: are banks allowed to deny consumers? I ask, because some Belgian banks deny service to people in some situations. Specifically:
- some banks refuse to open accounts for Americans (e.g. Rabobank) because they do not have an info sharing agreement with the US.
- some banks refuse online service to those without an Apple iPhone or Android smartphone (and the OS must also be recent). Counter service may be viable but those customers will pay high fees. Aion is like this and perhaps Hello Bank. What’s to stop all banks from forcing customers to patronize Google or Apple?
- some banks lock your account if a document they have on file (e.g. id card) expires, thus forcing you to renew your id card even if there’s no legal requirement to do so.
Even neglecting whether the above reasons for service denial are fair or reasonable, the fundamental issue seems to be the combination of:
- the government and essential commercial transactions like receiving a salary require recipients to have a bank account
- cash transactions above 3k are illegal (so salaries can’t be in cash)
- banks seem to have a right to refuse service to whoever they want
Am I missing something?
Some explanations are available here: https://www.ing.be/en/retail/daily-banking/current-accounts/basic-banking-service-account. A minimum banking service is regulated by law but is not necessarily free of charge.
It’s even a European right: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/financial-products-and-services/bank-accounts-eu/index_en.htm.
The reason that’s banks don’t want to allow Americans to open a Bank account is because of FATCA thank you Obama. too much headaches!
