The basic "no-fee" payment account now has even more fees

The payment account for basic transactions, created years ago with the idea that no fees would be charged if the money came only from salaries, pensions, social benefits, or scholarships, will no longer be completely free.

With amendments to the Payment Services and Payment Systems Act, the National Assembly (NA) has placed a limit on free ATM or POS withdrawals from the servicing bank, which, once exceeded, will now require the payment of a fee, even if the ATM is owned by the servicing bank. The changes were approved on second reading by parliament unanimously with 150 votes in favor, BTA reports.

Specifically, the amendments state that:

• Up to 10 cash withdrawals per month from the basic account at an ATM or POS terminal of the servicing bank will be free of charge (previously there was no limit);
• Up to 3 credit transfers per month will be free of charge, including through the online banking systems of the servicing bank, for which no fees are charged (previously there was no limit).

Everything about the "no-fee" basic payment account

The basic account, referred to as a payment account for basic operations, was introduced with the adoption of the 2023 Budget by the then Minister of Finance, Assen Vassilev, who introduced an obligation for large businesses to pay salaries only by bank transfer. This led to "on-the-fly" amendments, which removed the service fee for the "basic" account in question, along with the fee for cash withdrawals, which were unlimited in number.

The main idea behind the account was that it should be free of charge when the amounts in it came from salaries (without any limit on the amount), pensions, social assistance and benefits, scholarships for pupils, students and doctoral students. The catch was that in order to open such an account, the user could not have any other active bank accounts, and the servicing bank could unilaterally close it if the user opened other payment accounts.

Soon after, however, it became clear that because the legislation had been rushed through and there were no common requirements, banks were applying their own approaches and conditions, such as requiring the product to be used without mobile banking or a physical card. Furthermore, based on a review of bank tariffs, there are almost no fees waived.

It also turned out that the number of basic accounts opened at that time was low – only 1,000 to 2,000 – and by July 2025, there were only 4,000, according to statistics from the Ministry of Finance (MF). For reference, data from the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) show that as of December 31, 2024, there were 15.20 million active bank accounts in the country. In other words, only 0.2% of bank accounts are basic and free of fees.

Supposedly, in order to "clarify the law" and avoid "different interpretations," as pointed out by the MF during a budget committee meeting, at the initiative of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria, it was proposed at the end of last year that the number of free withdrawals be fixed at three per month, but in the chamber, MPs raised it to 10 per ATM of the servicing bank.

Translated with DeepL.