ING lowers negative interest rate limit to €100,000

ING Lowers As of 1 July, the threshold for negative interest rates will be raised to €100,000. This means that many more savers will pay half a percent interest on their assets. Currently, that limit is still set at €250,000 at ING, Rabobank and de Volksbank, while savers at ABN Amro are safe up to half a million euros. Triodos has been charging negative interest rates above a tonne of savings since last year.

According to ING, 97.8% of its customers have less than a hundred thousand euros in their accounts. Savers who have more than a hundred thousand euros will pay interest on the amount above this limit from July, converted to €5 per year for every €1,000. ING says that customers can avoid negative interest rates by spreading balances across multiple accounts, but that does bring additional costs and inconvenience.

Why negative interest rates?

Several Dutch banks charge negative interest rates on savings. They park the excess savings with the European Central Bank, which has been there since 2014. Negative interest rates over calculates. Over the years, that interest rate has been raised further and further to 0.5%. In doing so, the central bank is trying to encourage people to borrow more and save less.

Banks pass on this penalty interest to savers, because it does not look like interest rates will rise again in the foreseeable future. ING also does not expect any change in the ECB's monetary policy in the short term. She says that the persistently low market interest rates and the negative interest rate policy of the central bank are forcing her to cut interest rates. Saving therefore increasingly costs money.

Saving money costs money 

Alternatives to savings?

It is likely that other banks in the Netherlands will follow ING's example and further lower the threshold for negative interest rates as well. This means that wealthy savers will have to look for alternatives. And if it's not because of the negative interest rate on savings, then it's because of the risk you run if a bank fails. Savings above €100,000 are not guaranteed by the deposit guarantee scheme.

If a new banking crisis breaks out and banks collapse as a result, there is a good chance that the balance above €100,000 will be gone or converted into bank shares. As a saver, you therefore have even less reason to park a lot of money in one bank. It is possible to spread your savings over different banks, but there is also a maximum limit. In addition, the purchasing power of your savings is slowly evaporating due to inflation. With negative interest rates, this is even faster.

That's why it's important to consider alternatives. At Holland Gold you can safely buy precious metals in combination with storage. For a little more than the negative interest rate, we can store that capital for you fully insured. This can be done in the Netherlands or Switzerland via AunexumSafe. Physical bullion as a safe alternative without counterparty risk.

Would you like to know more about the storage of precious metals? Click here For more information or view our range of gold, silver and platinum in combination with storage.