Contest bank fees
These texts are templates and information. This is not legal advice.
You can ask your bank to look again at incident fees, such as an intervention fee or a rejection fee, and to refund what is not owed or what sits above the published caps. Fleuris prepares the letters. You send them. Fleuris cannot tell you that a fee will be refunded.
Write to the bank first
The Banque de France says the bank acknowledges your request within 10 days of sending it, and replies within 2 months. A dispute about a payment is handled within 15 working days, and that time can run to 35 working days. Write to the complaints service if you can, and keep a dated copy. The first letter below is for that step.
A dispute with your bank, Banque de France
Source: Banque de France, page read on 23 October 2026
The published caps
Service-Public.fr says a rejected cheque cannot cost more than €30 when the cheque is €50 or less, or more than €50 when it is above that. The same cheque presented again within 30 days of the first rejection counts as one incident. A rejected transfer or direct debit cannot cost more than the order itself, and it cannot cost more than €20. If that order is rejected again, the bank must not charge a new fee, and it must refund you if it did. For going past an authorized overdraft, the fees cannot exceed €8 per operation or €80 a month. For a person in financial difficulty, incident fees are capped at €25 a month. With the specific offer, they are capped at €20 a month and €200 a year, and the overdraft fee on that offer is stated at €4 per operation and €20 a month. The bank must tell you the amount of these fees at least 14 days before it takes them from the account. A fee that stays inside these caps can still be disputed when it does not match the operation.
Payment incidents, Service-Public.fr
Source: Service-Public.fr, page checked on 30 September 2024
The mediator, next
Service-Public.fr says you can refer the dispute to your bank’s mediator if the reply does not satisfy you, or if there is no reply within 2 months. For a payment-service dispute, that page speaks of 15 days. You have to show that you already wrote to the bank. The mediator does not look at a request made more than one year after that written complaint, or at a dispute already before another mediator or a court. You cannot use the mediator for a refused loan. The referral is free. The mediator proposes a solution within 90 days of telling you that the file has been received, and tells you if a complex file needs longer. You and the bank are free to accept or to refuse that proposal. The mediator’s details are on the bank’s reply, on its website, on your statements, or in the account agreement. The second letter is ready for that step.
The bank mediator, Service-Public.fr
Source: Service-Public.fr, page checked on 28 July 2026
The letter to the bank
Both letters are in French, because they go to a bank in France. Fleuris does not send them.
Objet : contestation de frais d'incidents et demande de remboursement
Madame, Monsieur,
Je conteste les frais d'incidents prélevés sur mon compte, en particulier les commissions d'intervention et les frais de rejet listés ci-dessous. Je vous demande de les examiner et de me rembourser ceux qui ne sont pas dus, ou ceux qui dépassent les plafonds publiés.
Les opérations que je conteste sont les suivantes :
Je vous prie d'accuser réception de ce courrier et de me répondre par écrit. Je conserve une copie de cet envoi.
Cordialement,
Signature :
The letter to the mediator
Send this one only after you have written to the bank, if the reply does not satisfy you or if it does not arrive in time.
Objet : saisine du médiateur bancaire au sujet de frais d'incidents
Madame, Monsieur le Médiateur,
Le [date de ma réclamation], j'ai écrit à ma banque pour contester des frais d'incidents et en demander le remboursement. La réponse ne me convient pas, ou je n'ai pas reçu de réponse dans le délai indiqué. Je vous saisis de ce litige. Le recours est gratuit.
Cordialement,
Signature :