Savers can avoid negative interest rates more easily than they think. It may also be a welcome opportunity to rethink your personal investment strategy.

sMany customers react emotionally as soon as the bank announces it. especially if someone so called custody fee Announced that a certain amount will be paid in future. As a rule, banks and savings banks charge 0.5 percent. The letters are similar in wording, as are the arguments: the bank is unfortunately forced to react to the low interest rate policy of the European Central Bank. But financial experts are happy to offer advice and point out alternatives — so that investors can avoid custodial fees on falls, overnight funds or securities settlement accounts. Sometimes calculators are also provided that consumers can use to calculate the fee amount in euros and cents.

More and more consumers are affected by negative interest rates – or custody fees, as they are called in banking jargon. This is because the number of credit institutions that ask their customers for custodial fees in excess of a certain amount has increased significantly over the past year. In 2021, around 300 banks and savings banks introduced a similar fee for overnight money or money in current accounts, according to finance portal Biallo.de. In addition, the exemption has fallen, the amount up to which consumers are spared from the fee.