Out for checking account comparison from Check24
Check24 logo. (Image: Check24)
No time right now?
Check24 has switched off its current account comparison – just five months after it started. The reason was apparently a lawsuit by consumer advocates against the TÜV-certified offer.
At the beginning of August, Check24 launched a comparison website for current accounts certified by TÜV Saarland. According to Check24 boss Christoph Röttele, the company took “a seven-digit amount” into hand for this. According to its own statements, Check24 did not earn any money with the non-commercial offer. After a lawsuit by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), Check24 has now pulled the plug on the current account comparison.
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Check24: Current account comparison with many options
On the comparison website, consumers were able to compare a total of 19 different cost items in their current account, such as tagesschau.de reports. It was therefore possible to compare account fees, the amount of the overdraft interest or credit card fees. The offer included the large private banks, more than 80 percent of the savings banks as well as Volks- and Raiffeisenbanken. Almost all online banks were also listed according to Check24.
In total, only 576 of over 1,700 banks are said to have been listed as one vzbv evaluation revealed. Accordingly, the website would not offer significant market coverage. In more than 90 percent of the cases, only one account model per credit institution was listed. And: The non-commercial comparison was difficult to find and was too close to other commercial offers from Check24.
vzbv criticizes the offer as inadequate
“The Check24 offer was not suitable for providing consumers with an overview of suitable account offers on the market. The website is certified by TÜV Saarland, but still deficient and inadequate. It simply did not meet the requirements of European law “, explained vzbv board member Klaus Müller.
Platform operator Check24 showed up meanwhile, not very pleased with the lawsuit and subsequent suspension of the offer. Finally, the Federal Ministry of Finance confirmed the implementation of the TÜV-certified comparison website by Check24 in December. vzbv board member Müller said: “We warned against a private, interest-driven solution from the start. The victims now are the consumers. That is shameful. ”The consumer advocates are now calling for“ a quick reallocation to an independent agency ”.
