Switching banks in Belgium takes ten banking business days at the minimum and costs nothing. The new bank handles almost everything: it picks up the payment orders, notifies the employer and the creditors, closes the old account. Two tasks stay on your plate, and nobody will remind you of them.
How long does it take to switch banks?
Ten banking business days at the minimum, one month at the maximum. The deadline is not a marketing promise: it is written into the rules of the interbank mobility service that every Belgian bank applies in the same way.
The date that governs everything is called the start date. It is the day the new bank receives your completed and signed form. Each party then has its own deadline, and the rules put a figure on each one.
| Step | Who acts | Deadline set by the rules |
|---|---|---|
| Signed form received, start date | new bank | day 0 |
| Form sent on to the old bank | new bank | 2 banking business days |
| List of payment orders communicated | old bank | 3 banking business days after receipt |
| Standing orders and direct debits encoded | new bank | 1 banking business day after receipt |
| Switch date, the effective changeover | both | 10th banking business day at the earliest, 1 month at the latest |
| Closure of an account tied to a deferred debit card | old bank | up to 3 months after the balance transfer |
Deadlines taken from the rules on the interbank mobility service published by Febelfin, December 2024 version, consulted on 18 September 2026.
One line of the table deserves a second reading. If the date field is left blank, or if the date entered falls before the tenth banking business day, the switch is pushed back to that tenth day as a matter of course. You cannot speed the operation up, only slow it down.
Translated into calendar days, the gap is wider than it looks, because a banking business day excludes Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. A form signed on Friday 18 September 2026 takes effect on Friday 2 October, fourteen calendar days later. The same form signed on Friday 18 December 2026 takes effect on Tuesday 5 January 2027, because 25 December and 1 January do not count: eighteen days for exactly the same operation.
Avoid December.
The six steps, in order
- Open the new current account before anything else. The interbank mobility service assumes both accounts exist, and at least one holder must be common to the two.
- Ask the new bank for the interbank mobility form. One form covers one account: a current account and a savings account to move means two forms.
- Tick the option matching your situation among the four available: transfer of the payment orders only, transfer plus closure of the old account, notification of creditors only, or closure without transfer.
- Enter the switch date, placing it at least ten banking business days ahead and within the following month.
- Sign, in branch or electronically where the bank allows it. The new bank takes over and contacts the old one.
- Check for two months. A full billing cycle is the only valid test, and that is when the oversights surface.
What does the interbank mobility service transfer?
The payments, the balance and the cards. Not the account number, not the products, not the tax administration.
| Item | Covered by the service | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Standing orders and memo-dated transfers | yes | re-encoded on the new account |
| Active direct debits | yes | the mandate given to the creditor stays valid |
| Recurring incoming transfers | yes | salary, health insurance fund, benefits |
| Balance of the old account | yes | after deduction of fees and interest due |
| Cards linked to the old account | yes | cancelled on the switch date |
| Regulated savings account | yes, between participating banks | list on bankswitching.be |
| Account number, IBAN | no | it stays attached to the old bank |
| Mortgage, pension savings, securities | no | products to be handled separately |
| Account number held by the FPS Finance | no | to be declared yourself on MyMinfin |
Sources: Febelfin rules of December 2024 and Wikifin, page updated on 17 February 2025.
The scope is wide, which explains why the tool is used so much. In 2025, 111,745 requests were filed, of which 38,118 for a closure combined with a payment transfer, plus 45,178 savings account transfers. The figure is down from the 134,343 requests of 2024, a year lifted by banking mergers.
A direct debit dormant for thirteen months stays behind
The trap is written in black and white in the rules, and it appears on no form.
A direct debit only enters the transfer if it has been executed at least once during the thirteen months preceding the start date. The rule comfortably covers anything monthly or quarterly. It leaves out the fire insurance premium debited once a year, the annual membership fee of a club, the subscription paid in one go in January when you switch banks in March of the following year.
The same logic applies to incoming money. An incoming transfer counts as recurring if its structured communication starts with /A/, /B/ or /C/, or if the same payer has made at least six transfers over thirteen months. A monthly employer clears the filter without difficulty. Rent paid by a tenant for the past four months does not.
Who tells the tax office about your new account number?
You, and nobody else. The interbank mobility service notifies creditors and recurring payers, but the tax administration falls into neither category.
Two tasks therefore stay on your plate after the changeover:
- Declare the new account number to the FPS Finance, the Belgian federal tax administration, through MyMinfin, section "My payments", then "Change my account number". Without it, a tax refund goes out to a closed account and returns to the Treasury, months late.
- Reset the subscriptions paid by card rather than by direct debit. A streaming service, an online marketplace or a gym charging a cancelled card is warned by nobody: the payment fails at the first due date.
Does switching banks cost anything?
Nothing at all. The interbank mobility service is free under its own rules, and closing a current account or a savings account cannot be charged for in Belgium, as Wikifin, the financial education website of the FSMA regulator, points out. The old bank only deducts the management fees for the current period from the balance before wiring it.
The real cost comes later, and it comes from hesitation. Keeping the old account open "just in case" means paying for two accounts in parallel. At KBC, a pay-per-item current account costs 3 € a month since 1 January 2026, with a debit card billed separately at 0.75 € a month: 45 € a year for an account nobody uses any more. At Argenta, a Formule Green comes out at 0 € a year, debit cards included, according to price list DW 26234 valid from 16 September 2026. Six months of hesitation therefore cost between 0 and 22.50 € depending on the bank being left, which is little, but not nothing.
Should the old account stay open, and for how long?
A few weeks, yes. Several months, rarely.
Wikifin recommends a transition period for third parties still using the old number, and the argument holds: a rental deposit refund or an annual service charge settlement can land long after the switch. The rules even foresee a case where closure is delayed by design, when the account is tied to a deferred debit card. The old account is then closed at the latest three months after the balance transfer, long enough for the final card operations to settle.
Two to three months cover almost every situation. Beyond that, you are paying for a safety net you no longer need.
What can be done if the transfer goes wrong?
The written complaint goes first to the old and the new bank, both responsible for their share of the procedure. Without a satisfactory answer, the case goes to Ombudsfin, the ombudsman service of the Belgian financial sector, which is free to contact.
Two weeks, one form, two reminders
Choosing the new bank is a separate exercise, decided on the annual cost of the account, on card pricing and on the savings rate. Our ranking of Belgian banks covers those three items institution by institution, and the bank comparison tool puts two packages side by side. For the detail of the fee lines, our survey of Belgian banking fees prices each operation, the trade-off between a package and a basic account gives the tipping point bank by bank, and the loyalty bonus explains why moving savings needs a calendar in hand.
Sources
- Febelfin, Rules on the interbank mobility service: deadlines of 2, 3 and 1 banking business days, switch date on the 10th banking business day at the earliest and one month at the latest, thirteen-month rule for direct debits and recurring incoming transfers, closure deferred by three months where a deferred debit card is attached, free service, appeal to Ombudsfin. Version published in December 2024, consulted on 18 September 2026.
- Febelfin, In 2025, the bank switching service received 111,745 requests: 111,745 requests in 2025 against 134,343 in 2024, 38,118 closures with payment transfer, 45,178 savings account transfers, list of participating banks for savings. Press release of 7 January 2026.
- Wikifin (FSMA), How to switch banks: scope of the transfer, notification of creditors and recurring payers, MyMinfin step to be done yourself, advice on a transition period. Page updated on 17 February 2025.
- Wikifin (FSMA), How to open and close a current account: closing a current account or a savings account is free, management fees for the current period deducted from the balance. Page updated on 17 February 2025.
- FPS Finance, MyMinfin: changing the account number receiving refunds, section "My payments".
- Test-Achats, KBC raises its current account pricing on 1 January 2026: pay-per-item current account at 3 € a month with a debit card billed separately at 0.75 € a month, so 45 € a year. Published on 15 October 2025.
- Argenta, Price list, document DW 26234: Formule Green at 0 € a month, debit cards included. Valid from 16 September 2026.
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Marion a travaillé six ans en agence, à Namur puis à Bruxelles, avant de passer côté rédaction en 2020. Elle a ouvert, fermé et transféré assez de comptes à vue pour savoir où se cachent les frais : le forfait « tout compris » qui exclut justement le virement instantané, la carte de crédit offerte la première année, le compte d’épargne dont la prime de fidélité s’évapore au premier retrait. Depuis, elle relit chaque janvier et chaque juillet les documents d’information tarifaire des banques belges, recalcule le coût annuel réel par profil, et vérifie ce que rapporte vraiment un taux affiché quand le plafond est de 500 € par mois. Ce qui l’agace : les comparatifs qui classent une banque première sur la qualité de son application alors que le client, lui, paie ses frais en euros.