§ 4-34. Switching payment accounts: the bank's duty to provide a simple procedure
Machine-translated from Norwegian. The Norwegian text is the one that applies. Read the original in Norwegian.Norsk English العربية Polski Українська
In brief
- Consumers (forbrukere) are entitled to a clear, quick, secure and simple procedure for account switching (kontobytte).
- Banks may set up their own arrangements that depart from §§ 4-35 to 4-38, but only if this is clearly better for the consumer.
- The transferring bank is the old bank, and the receiving bank is the new one.
The text of the law (unofficial translation)
§ 4-34. Switching payment accounts
What does this mean?
This section is the starting point for the rules on account switching. It applies to customers who are consumers. The bank must make sure that the consumer has access to a procedure for switching payment accounts, and the procedure must be clear, quick and secure. It must also be simple to use. The details are set out in the sections that follow.
The second paragraph allows the banks to create their own solutions. The old and the new bank may set up arrangements that depart from the rules in §§ 4-35 to 4-38. A condition is that the arrangement is clearly to the consumer's advantage. Nor may it give the consumer any additional burden or a longer completion time. Such departures are therefore only allowed when they are better for the consumer.
The third paragraph explains two terms used throughout this group of sections. The transferring payment service provider is the bank the information is moved from, that is, the old bank. The receiving payment service provider is the bank the information is moved to, that is, the new one. Example: a consumer wants to move their account. The old bank is then the transferring bank, and the new bank is the receiving bank.
The process follows a fixed order in the next sections. Under § 4-35, the consumer can authorise the new bank to carry out the switch. The authorisation can be limited, and the date the consumer chooses for standing orders and direct debits (direktebelastninger) to start at the new bank cannot be earlier than six business days (virkedager) after the new bank has received the information from the old bank. The new bank must also give the consumer a written copy of the authorisation. Section 4-36 requires the new bank to ask the old bank to carry out its tasks, while § 4-37 describes the old bank's tasks.
The new bank's tasks are set out in § 4-38. The bank must carry them out within five business days after it has received the information from the old bank. The tasks only apply as far as the authorisation and the information allow. Fees in connection with account switching have their own section, § 4-41.
- § 4-35Authorisation to the new bank when switching accounts
- § 4-36The new bank must ask the old bank to start the account switching
- § 4-37The old bank's tasks when switching accounts
- § 4-38The new bank's tasks when switching accounts
- § 4-41Fees for switching bank accounts