You want to leave your bank. Maybe you pay too much. Maybe you and your partner bank in two places and want one. Or you moved to Belgium, opened the first account you could, and now you know better.
What stops people is almost always the same thing. All those direct debits. Energy, insurance, phone, rent. Your salary. What if you forget one?
Here is the good part: you do not have to move them yourself. Every bank in Belgium has to let you switch for free. It is in the law, in Book VII of the Code of Economic Law. Your new bank does the work. You do not even have to call your old one.
What the switch takes care of
The bank switching service takes this over from your old bank:
Your direct debits. Your new bank tells the companies that take money from your account, and gives them your new account number.
Your standing orders and scheduled transfers. They are waiting on your new account after the switch.
The people who pay you regularly. Your employer, your health insurance fund or your union gets the news, says Wikifin, the information site of the Belgian financial regulator.
Your balance. If you have your old account closed, the money on it moves to your new account.
After a few days you get an overview of who was told. Anyone the bank could not reach, you tell yourself.
What you still do yourself
A few things sit outside the switch:
What
What you do
Your tax refund
Enter your new account number yourself in MyMinfin, under My payments.
Your account number
It changes. Give the new one to friends and family who send you money.
Anyone who could not be reached
Contact them yourself. They are in the overview from your new bank.
Investments, loans, insurance
Not part of the switch. Ask both banks how it works and what it costs.
You cannot keep your account number. According to KBC, no European bank can offer that for now.
How to switch
Open a current account at your new bank. Online or in a branch.
Ask for the bank switching service there. You get a form, online or in the branch, depending on the bank. At KBC you start it in KBC Mobile.
Choose what should happen. There are three options: only move your payment orders, only close your old account, or both.
Sign the form. Electronically is fine, if your bank offers it.
Pick a date. At the earliest 10 bank working days and at the latest one month after you apply.
The banks do the rest. That is how Febelfin, the Belgian banking federation, describes it.
Your old account: do not close it too fast
Closing your old account is free. Still, it pays to think first.
People sometimes still use your old number. If you only move your payment orders, your old account stays open and money can still arrive on it. Wikifin calls that a useful transition period. You do keep paying for that old account.
Your cards stop. When the account closes, your old bank cancels the cards linked to it.
A mortgage at your old bank? Then your old account can only be closed after you visit that bank, says KBC. Also check your loan contract to see if your rate discount depends on that account.
Your savings account can come too
A savings account can be moved as well, but only between banks that take part. Febelfin’s list has Argenta, BNP Paribas Fortis, Belfius, CBC Banque, Crelan, Deutsche Bank, Fintro, KBC Bank, Bank Van Breda, Banque CPH, Beobank, Europabank, ING Belgium and vdk bank.
Watch your loyalty bonus. When a savings account closes, you get your interest, but you lose the loyalty bonus on money that has been there for less than a year. So check when you last paid something in.
From Fortis to KBC, or the other way round
A switch between two big banks, like from BNP Paribas Fortis to KBC, works exactly the same way.
KBC itself says it is sorted in 10 working days. Not sure yet which bank suits you? Compare what you pay each month and which cards are included first. Wikifin has a current account comparison tool for that (in Dutch).
The weeks in between
A switch takes a few weeks. In that time you have two accounts, at two banks, in two apps. Your salary might still land on the old one while your energy bill already leaves from the new one. That is the moment you briefly lose track of where you stand.
That is why Briliza shows all your banks side by side, KBC and BNP Paribas Fortis together included. Money you move from your old account to your new one counts as a transfer, not as spending. So your total stays right, even while your money is moving house.
Something goes wrong?
Go to your bank’s customer service first. No answer, or no good answer within 30 days? Then you can go to Ombudsfin, the ombudsman for financial services, for free.
Glossary
Bank switching service
The free service in which your new bank takes over your payment orders and balance from your old bank. Every bank in Belgium has to offer it.
Direct debit (domiciliëring)
Permission for a company to take money from your account, like your energy supplier or your phone operator.
Standing order (doorlopende opdracht)
A transfer you set up yourself that leaves on fixed dates, like your rent.
