Carlos San Juan is known throughout the banking sector as the retiree who put entities in their place with the I'm older, not an idiot campaign. He started it on change.org after an unpleasant experience in which his bank asked him to leave for complaining about time constraints. In response to the rudeness, he collected more than 600,000 signatures with which he called the attention of the Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño. The effort resulted in an agreement between the banks and the Government to establish a code of good practices that is already in operation and that several organizations supervise to guarantee its compliance.
San Juan appreciates significant progress since the approval of the new code in the middle of last year, but warns that some shortcomings persist. "There has been a radical change, especially in some entities, but many problems persist that would be solved with the new law for the defense of financial clients, which is what we need now," he says from Valencia.
It refers to the Financial Client Defense Authority bill, approved by the Government at the end of last year and in full parliamentary process, pending the end of the term for amendments in mid-February. The Secretary General of the Treasury himself, Carlos Cuerpo, has kept San Juan informed about the processing of a rule considered "key" for the rights of banking consumers. "It will be a very powerful channel for any claim," says San Juan.
The Government calculates that the new authority can manage close to 10,000 claims a year at no cost to the public coffers, since it will be financed with resources from the banks themselves. For each complaint, as San Juan recalls, the entities must pay 250 euros, which will go to the new body. The banks themselves fear that this amount, which must be paid regardless of whether the complaint is founded or not, may create a perverse incentive.
“There are many fringes to cover and it would be very demoralizing if the law does not go ahead. The banks, which have no limit to their benefits, have not in many cases improved their mobile applications, which are often tremendously complicated, ”he points out, citing an area in which the elderly will now be able to apply pressure.
San Juan also warns of another concern: commissions. “They were justified in the days when interest rates were at zero percent, but now things have changed and they're not like that anymore,” he says. “There are people for whom the commissions unbalance the economy,” says San Juan.
So much demand with the banks is due to a principle that San Juan insists on: "Entities are a public service." “I have no alternative to the bank to collect my pension. If you are obliged to collect it from the bank, they cannot put draconian conditions on you or lead you to have to do everything online”.
Regarding the passbooks, he acknowledges that "CaixaBank is doing very well, with signs on the door and preferential treatment for the elderly." "He has created the figure of the senior manager," he adds, thereby fulfilling one of the points of last year's agreement.
“The matter of the primers is problematic. It is the last turn of the thread from the banks to the majors. They are withdrawing and penalizing themselves with shadow commissions, ”she assures.
