The smooth transition, towards the closure of ING’s accounts in France, came to a halt. The portfolio of one million customers in France at online banking is not as easy to manage as expected. Legal action is being prepared, under the initiative of the president of the France Conso Banque association, Michel Guillaud (himself concerned by the situation).

More and more customers would find themselves in embarrassment after the bank closed their account without delay. In the middle of the summer, many lamented having received emails at the last moment, without the possibility of organizing themselves to change banks in time. Customers of savings or investment products would not escape this.

Regulated savings accounts (Livret A, LDDS) are affected by this transfer emergency. And on this point, instead of closing the accounts overnight, ING France would be overwhelmed by the volume of files. The delays in closing the account would be significant and customers cannot open an account elsewhere in the meantime – the law only allowing one such passbook per person.

Forced march to Boursorama Banque

To understand the situation, we have to go back a few months. On April 5, ING and Boursorama Banque jointly announced a somewhat special partnership. If Boursorama was going to recover purely and simply the life insurance accounts of ING, the negotiations had not provided for the same for the current accounts. Instead, ING offered Boursorama Banque the status of “exclusive partner” with a simplified and attractive account transfer system (320 euros premium).

Understand by this that the customers were going to be contacted “successively until summer”, proposals to customers for a simplified process for transferring their assets to Boursorama Banque and for subscribing to a banking offer. And for all customers who have not chosen to follow this path, the transfer will be much less fluid. “We have the impression of being oriented with bayonets”said a client at the site specializing in jurisdiction The particular.

With accounts deleted overnight, it’s as if ING had reasoned only through the assumption that all its customers choose Boursorama Banque and transfer their funds before the summer. According to figures from Boursorama, 200,000 customers of the ING France current account have taken the classic route to transfer their outstandings to the leading French online bank. The proportion is respectable, but suggests that tens of thousands of people could theoretically still be in trouble.

Galley on other products

We mentioned savings, with the difficulty of opening a savings account at another bank, as ING is awash in requests to close accounts. There are also many difficulties with the banks opposite. “We are struggling to meet the deadlines imposed by ING”told the site The particular the director of the BNP Paribas Foch Maillot agency in Paris.

In the legal action, the plaintiffs also want to be able to be compensated for the period of emptiness during which they will not receive interest with their savings, because of the change of establishment. “They can contact us to join the collective action that we are going to launch. The objective is for each saver to be compensated, at least for the interest that he has not received”said Michel Guillaud.

Holders of a PEA (Stock Savings Plan) or a securities account have every interest in hurrying to change as well, because ING is no longer kidding. More than administrative hassles, clients are threatened with losing all their positions. “In the absence of a request to transfer or close the securities account or the PEA, ING reserves the right to initiate the closure of your account(s) from August 2022 and to sell your securities in accordance with our conditions. general”warns the online bank.

Such products still require special attention, while in these unstable times with the recession, customers certainly did not want to change establishments. During the transfer period, they would not have been able to touch their investments (sell or buy shares, for example).

Finally, for credit, a journalist from the site The particular advised ING customers to do things as cleanly as possible so as not to be penalised. In essence, ING is not stopping its credit activity (for lack of having found an interested buyer), but is transferring all contracts to its Dutch branch with potential obstacles for the customer.

To continue with ING, it is better to quickly inform the bank of the current account from which you wish to make the monthly transfers and send the form presented by the bank by registered letter, which will serve as proof in the event of a problem. A far from useless expense, because if the information about the new bank details does not reach ING, you could be penalized for non-payment, a real task in a bank file.

The mailing address concerned: ING – Real Estate Credit / Management, Free response 70678, 75567 Paris Cedex 12.