Do you know what means of communication you have agreed with your bank?

12/05/2022

Not so long ago, banks communicated with their customers mainly by post. In fact, we have all had the feeling at some point that the bank was the only one who wrote to us. With the popularisation of new technologies this situation has changed, and perhaps many of us are not aware of the means of communication that our bank uses to communicate with us.

If our contract with the institution is old, most probably the original will only include postal mail as a means of communication. If we are in fact no longer receiving letters through the post from the bank, it is very likely that the change was communicated to us at some point, perhaps together with other features or modifications that made this issue go unnoticed.

On the other hand, new contracts now almost always include electronic means of communication: text message, SMS, e-mail, communication through online banking, etc.

It is very important that we regularly review the messages received from our bank, because in the case of indefinite contracts, institutions can modify the applicable conditions by giving at least two months' notice, and if we do not express our disagreement within this period, it is understood that we accept the change.

This notification must be made in a personalised manner on paper or another durable medium (such as a telematic medium) that allows it to be kept and reproduced without change. If this communication is made through online banking mailboxes, financial institutions must confirm that they have informed their customers of the existence and availability of the information relating to the contractual modification of the online bank account, which they will do by sending beforehand an e-mail to the customer's address, or an SMS to their mobile phone number, to inform them that this information is available in their mailbox. To keep track of our finances, we need to pay attention to these messages.