How to save with checking accounts in Europe

It seems that euro zone banks have really tough time attracting more of their customers into savings with their checking accounts. This may be due to the fact that unlike US economy which has fully recovered from the recent crisis EU doesn’t have “federal government” similar to USA to help out, therefore banks need to cope with current economic situation and attract more customers into using this and other of their services on their own.

In Britain there is a new rule which allows higher limits on tax free savings accounts. Over 20 million people, which is more than a half of British adult population, have this type of the account but thanks to a very low interest rate (averaging about 0,86% ) deposits into those checking accounts have been low over the past few years.
In the past, there usually was huge increase of money poured into saving accounts with the start of the new taxation year – each April. But this year’s April has set new record in low savings amount – bellow 4 billion pounds were invested compared to 2012. over 7 or 6,5 billion in April 2013. The new rule was set to start this July, and according to the British Bankers Association (BBA) many account holder used this advantage and invested into their savings.

Back on the EU mainland, German Deutsche Bank offers really good interest rates even for short term savings, but they are hoping to attract more people into using their services through discounts offered on having and using their credit cards attached to bank accounts. This really isn’t anything new in the banking world, but when thinking about how much money can be saved in this way (on travel, clothes and other commodities) it almost seems certain that the whole idea is to allow for their customers into spending savings, which would then be deposited into checking accounts. This is a really nice option for anyone and shouldn’t easily be overlooked, since the bank operates throughout the world and isn’t limited on European soil alone.

One of the always interesting options connected to savings are Switz banks. Bank Coop offers variety of saving options with one being probably most interesting – chance to have a bonus in form of higher interest rate. While the interest rate for the first year is set at 0.25% and 0.45% for the second, there is a bonus of 0.75% on the interest rate for each year. The account opening and management is completely free but there are a few conditions that may rob their customers of the promised bonus – withdrawing more than 20000 chfper year for example.

From everything said above it’s clear that EU banks have different approaches towards their customers, especially in comparison to USA, but their main goals are the same – attract more savings. Although interest rates are not as high as people expected or might want them to be, there are other ways to save some money which can than later be invested into checking accounts.