Evo Banco requires €3,000 idle for a 0.5% return

Evo Banco requires €3,000 idle for a 0.5% return

Evo Banco's "smart" account pays no interest on your balance until the customer leaves €3,000 untouched. Only above that threshold does the 0.5% APR kick in. Below that barrier, zero interest and zero fees. The setup, confirmed at a branch by a forum user, leaves savers with an uncomfortable question: why hand the bank a €3,000 cushion that would earn something — however symbolic — in a fixed-term deposit?

The figure stings even more when you do the math. With an average balance of €6,000, the annual return comes to **€15**, according to a calculation circulating in the thread. Anyone hoping for more will have to look elsewhere. And there begins the long list of alternatives discussed in this consumer conversation: Openbank, Coinc from Bankinter, Self Bank, Farmafactoring. Each with its own fine print.

What each bank offers without a salary

The range of options on the table is nothing spectacular, but it exists. **Openbank** pays 0.6% for 13 months on balances above €25,000 and 0.5% below that figure. **Coinc, Bankinter's savings account**, pays 0.8% up to €50,000. **Farmafactoring** reaches 1.5% over one year. And **Self Bank** comes up as a suggestion, though with the reservation of those unwilling to hand their money to an institution with no physical branches.

The problem is that hardly any of these offers hold up without conditions. Evo's account, for example, requires a linked salary or monthly deposits of €600, according to a customer familiar with the contract. If more than two months pass without that deposit, the account turns into a standard one and maintenance fees begin. Free ATM withdrawals also come with a catch: in many cases you must withdraw **at least €120** to avoid charges.

The word "scam" and its nuances

Here the consensus breaks down. Several participants reject the term: if the bank publishes its conditions and honors them, there is no deception — the product may simply be a bad one. The calculation backing that view is simple: the first €3,000 earn nothing, the rest do, and the bank lends that balance out at a far higher rate than it pays. The business is clear, and so is the transparency.

Against that, the critical reading holds that tying up €3,000 in exchange for nothing is a form of disguised free financing. Money sitting idle in the current account yields zero for the customer and plenty for the bank. The discussion then shifts to comparison territory: if the goal is to make money work, a fixed-term deposit or a separate savings product does the job better than leaving your balance idle in your everyday account.

Conditions wearing thin over the years

This conversation has a memory. Longtime customers recall when the bank required several direct debits to avoid fees, and how conditions have steadily tightened over time. The latest episode flagged is the introduction of fees for foreign currency payments and withdrawals, brought in quietly. That drip-drip — conditions quietly getting worse — is the argument that weighs most heavily among those who distrust the model.

There are also those who defend the opposite view with years of experience: accounts open for more than four years, no fees, an app that works and never setting foot in a branch. Reliability is measured there, in the absence of surprises. And a warning about the deposit guarantee fund: the **€100,000 per depositor and institution** is more of a psychological safety net than an effective one if a large institution fails, according to one forum user.

The warning about fixed income

Among the conditions sometimes offered to dodge fees is holding a €1,000 fixed-income investment fund. The warning is pertinent: fixed income is not fixed. It is traded and can lose value. Positioning that product as a substitute for a deposit repeats a familiar pattern — the preferentes scandal — though this time with the suitability form signed in advance, as one participant warns.

With this map, the decision comes down to priorities. If the goal is a second account with no cost and free ATM withdrawals abroad, Evo still delivers. If what you want is for your money to earn something, the €3,000 sitting idle is the first obstacle. And the most frequently mentioned alternative — ING — is not free from suspicion either that conditions will change whenever it suits the bank.

The predictable outcome is that the war for deposits stays deadlocked and banks compete for balances with ever-higher thresholds. If that happens, the interest-bearing account as it was once known will be definitively consigned to memory.