The Ministry of Economy is “closely” monitoring the issue of payment commissions in order to “guarantee the protection of consumer interests,” acknowledging the adjustment of current legislation, an official source told the Lusa agency.
This is the recent news that SIBS – the manager of the Multibanco network and the MB Way service – intends to allow the latter to be linked to payment accounts in addition to the existing solution for linking to payment cards, which has led the consumer protection association Deco to warn of the risk of increasing fees charged by this financial application.
“As far as consumer protection policy is concerned, the Ministry of Economy, through the General Directorate for Consumer Affairs, is closely monitoring the issue of commissions and will cooperate with the regulator, in particular through participation in the Payment Systems Forum, in order to guarantee the protection of consumer interests,” the ministry assured in a written response sent to Lusa.
According to him, this monitoring includes “an assessment of the need for possible adjustments to current legislation.”
On Wednesday, Decaux expressed “concern” about the “risk of increased fees” on the MB Way service following the new regime for transfers between payment accounts, sending a letter to the ministries of economy and finance “asking for urgent assessment and intervention to adapt the legislation and maintain the proportionality of fees applicable to MB Way transfers.”
“Linking MB Way to accounts will mean that transfers between users will be considered immediate transfers,” so “they may be subject to the prices applicable to these transfers, rather than the limits applicable to transfers between cards, as is currently the case, and in case of exceeding the free transactions – 0.2% in the case of a debit card and 0.3% in the case of a credit card,” the association explained in a statement.
If this is the amount charged for MB Way transfers between accounts, Deko stresses that it would be a “dramatic increase in fees on the average MB Way transfer amount of around €40, which is between 10 and 80 cents or more of one euro.”
“This cost would be completely disproportionate, which is contrary to the law and would harm the interests of MB Way consumers, a product that is well received and accepted by the Portuguese and for which the application of disproportionate fees should be avoided,” he argues.