Banking

Steps

1. Choose your bank and compare the fees with Wikifin's current account comparison tool (FSMA, the Belgian financial watchdog).
2. Present your identity document and your address; the bank will check your identity and where your funds come from (anti-money-laundering rules).
3. If the bank refuses an ordinary account, expressly ask for the basic banking service: it cannot require either your income, or a deposit, or the taking out of insurance.
4. If the refusal is unjustified, file a complaint with the bank's complaints department, then with the Ombudsfin (the financial services ombudsman).
5. For a mortgage, gather your payslips, your employment contract and the preliminary sales agreement, and compare several offers (the annual percentage rate of charge, APR, is the right benchmark).

Documents

• ID card or passport; Belgian residence card once issued by your municipality.
• Proof of address.
• For a loan: proof of income, employment contract, preliminary sales agreement, available savings.

Costs and timelines

• Basic banking service: €20.34 a year at most in 2026 (indexed every year), opening, management, closing, debit card and statements included. Electronic transactions without a ceiling, 36 manual transactions a year included.
• Universal banking service (a fixed-price package for those who do not use online banking): €62.50 a year at most (Wikifin, page updated on 16 July 2026: amount indexed since January 2025), with at least 60 manual transactions and 24 cash withdrawals at the ATM a year, a debit card and your account statements.
• Euro transfers within the EU: no more expensive than a domestic transfer.
• Mortgage: threshold of 90% loan-to-value (amount lent / value of the property) for your own home; banks may exceed it for 35% of their loans to first-time buyers (5% at most above 100%), 20% for other owner-occupiers; 80% for a property to let. These are not legal prohibitions, but expectations of the National Bank (comply or explain).

Common pitfalls

• Thinking you need a Belgian account for everything. To pay bills, online purchases or taxes, or to receive refunds or benefits by SEPA transfer or direct debit, your account cannot be refused because it is in another EU country, as long as the other party accepts these transactions from domestic accounts (Your Europe, "Payments, transfers and cheques").
• Planning too small a deposit. With a 10% deposit, you also have to pay registration duties, notary fees and deed costs: Wikifin strongly advises having enough savings to cover at least all these costs and says to count on 20% of the purchase price (page updated on 1 June 2026).
• Accepting an account with compulsory insurance. For the basic banking service, no tied sale is allowed.
• Forgetting your account abroad. As a Belgian resident, you must declare every account opened outside Belgium (current account, savings, securities account; cryptocurrency accounts only if held with a foreign bank, exchange office or credit or savings institution), even if opened for a short time or in your child's name, in two ways: once to the Contact Point for Accounts and Contracts (PCC) of the National Bank of Belgium, online (eID or itsme) or by post, at the latest when you file your tax return the year after opening; and every year in your tax return (box XIII, heading A). Each joint holder declares it themselves. So you can keep your home-country account, provided you declare it. Closure must also be reported to the PCC. Foreign banks pass your balances to the FPS Finance anyway (automatic CRS exchanges): an undeclared account exposes you to fines and tax increases. A foreign payment account such as PayPal does not in principle have to be declared, except for professional use or money that stays there longer than strictly necessary to carry out transactions; a foreign life insurance is mentioned only in the tax return (box XIII, heading B).

What changes by country of origin

• EU residents: right to the basic banking service, even before you settle in Belgium.
• Swiss and British citizens (Scots included): the right to the basic banking service is aimed at people who legally reside in an EU country; once settled in Belgium, they benefit from it like other residents.