@LimeLlama#116084 I really strongly encourage bunq to institute some sort of scheme where we can let them know about IBAN discrimination, and they can have a lawyer send a form letter to the guilty company. After the original letter is written, each new one would be a very small cost. It won't work every time, but it would have much more impact than an individual who can be safely ignored.

bunq can ask the companies to respect the law, but bunq being a relatively small bank, and having no "authority" that won't help in many cases. Having the lawyers contact every company (even with a standard letter) becomes very expensive quicky as bunq can not enforce anything themselves. They will need to go all the official routes to achieve this. Yes, ideally they should I think, but realistically I think there's a limit to what they can do. The best solution would be that customers would leave that company, but that is definitely not an option for everyone, and also not desirable from a customer perspective. (And the impact will likely not be big anyway given bunq's current size). It's difficult, but I also understand that bunq can mediate for each individual case. 😞

@LimeLlama#116084 Het lijkt me niet handig dat bunq dit doet. Waarom rapporteer je dit niet aan de instantie die hier toezicht op moet houden? In de meeste gevallen hebben die ook de macht om een partij die niet wil luisteren boetes op te leggen of om aan te klagen. Hier is een lijst: https://ec.europa.eu/info/system/files/art10-competent-authorities-05072013_en_0.pdf

@JeroenE#116113 This is the kind of response that I was complaining about. "Just report it to the authorities" really isn't that simple.

In the page you linked there are three authorities listed in France, which is where the company most recently discriminating is based. Which do I contact?

The links included are to general pages, not forms or specific enforcement contacts. Where do I go from there?

I don't speak enough french. How do I speak to the correct person once I've found them? What about other companies in other countries? I've also had the IBAN discrimination problem in the Netherlands. Do I have to learn dutch as well?

What happens when the authority says "You are not a French citizen - we are not here for you", which has happened to me in that country?

Sure, I could find someone who is French, or at least speaks French, to write a letter, wait for a response from the authority, contact the company, etc, maybe engage a lawyer, and fight for weeks or months. But I really just want the payment to go through so bills are paid by the end of the month, so I have to use a different bank.

It's really just not as simple as you naively assume.

@LimeLlama#116126 "Just report it to the authorities" really isn't that simple.

We never claimed it is simple. It’s highly annoying, that is what it is.

@LimeLlama#116126 I don't speak enough french. How do I speak to the correct person once I've found them? What about other companies in other countries? I've also had the IBAN discrimination problem in the Netherlands. Do I have to learn dutch as well?

Of course not, commonly there is at least someone at an institution that speaks English, your questions now seem to be mostly “what if” questions. Have you even tried already to contact one of the mentioned authorities? There is some effort you need to make here.. I’m not saying you need to get a lawyer and battle the company in court, that’s not feasible for an average consumer, but at least reporting them officially can help when enough people do so for instance. 🙂

Also, I’m not really sure what you expect bunq to be doing differently here.. they have no authority or whatsoever, so they can write a fancy letter, but it will just be ignored like other requests. Then bunq would have to fight the battle for every IBAN discriminating company out there in court? And subsequently raise the membership fees to €20 / month or so in order to pay their laywers? That would be unrealistic. Unfortunately we live in a world where companies typically only care about themselves/their profit. Especially for such a small group they won’t care to change their systems just to be able to accept a single customer that happens to have a foreign IBAN. And given that nobody really has the means to sue them or so they can get away with it. 😔 there’s only so much you can do.

@LimeLlama#116132 I completely understand the frustration and honestly admire your dedication here. It is ridiculous that authorities don't even know the law but I understand there's a limit as to the amount of money you're willing to invest to get things to change.. Very frustrating that such ignorant companies exist. I fear that in such cases all you can do is taking your loss (sadly) and get either a local IBAN or find another company that is willing to follow the laws. (Reading stories like these always make me wonder why we even have laws when some feel like they're above the law and decide on their own how to do their shit...) 😕

@LimeLlama#116132 Het is heel vervelend om te horen dat de Franse autoriteiten je niet willen helpen. Dat is gewoon niet OK. De volgende stap is dan klagen bij de EU zelf. Het grootste voordeel daar van is dat je bij Europa zelf wel in je eigen taal kan schrijven dus je hoeft er geen Frans voor te leren.

Maar als je zelf al hebt ontdekt dat men in Frankrijk geen enkele boodschap heeft aan jouw klachten, waarom denk je dan dat een brief van bunq gelijk voor een omslag zal zorgen?

@JeroenE#116135 The next step is then to complain to the EU itself.

Do you have a specific department and contact details for this? Not just a generic web page or document. Otherwise it's just more of the same simplistic "Talk to the authorities, they will fix it."

@JeroenE#116135 But if you have already discovered that there is no message in France about your complaints, why do you think that a letter from bunq immediately cause a change?

I don't think that. I think a letter would be a first step. bunq, even though they are small for a bank, has more resources to follow up after the letter than I.

@LimeLlama#116141 Als je wil dat een bank helpt kan je beter een grotere bank nemen. De kans dat die genoeg middelen hebben om je te helpen is groter.

Hier kan je alles lezen over klachten in de EU: https://fra.europa.eu/en/about-fundamental-rights/where-to-turn

Je kan verschillende partijen kiezen. Bijvoorbeeld de ombudsman, de commissie of een parlementariër.

One other option would be to contact a consumers rights organisation or a television show that advocates consumer’s rights.

In the worst case they take notice of the one complaint they received, in the best scenario they’ve received more complaints already and will make an issue out of this.

As there are more and more pan-European banks, this is becoming an issue to more and more people and will get attention from the media soon enough in effected countries.