A package is worth what it includes and you use, not what it promises. At Argenta, the Silver formula at €42/year becomes cheaper than the Green formula at €0/year beyond 21 counter transactions a year. At BNP Paribas Fortis, the Easy Guide Pack at €66/year only pays off from two credit cards. Here are the tipping points, bank by bank, as of 2 August 2026.
Package or basic account: which costs less in 2026?
The basic account is almost always cheaper on the price list, and that is usually where the reasoning stops. It needs to go further: a bare account bills individually what the package includes.
Here are the two tiers offered by Belgium's four large banks, with the real annual cost of the current account alongside.
| Bank | Basic account | Annual cost | Package | Annual cost | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argenta | Green formula | €0/year | Silver formula | €42/year | €42 |
| BNP Paribas Fortis | Easy Go Pack | €24/year | Easy Guide Pack | €66/year | €42 |
| KBC / CBC | KBC Base Account | €30/year | KBC Plus Account | €51/year | €21 |
| Belfius | Beats Pulse | €0/year | Beats New | €46.80/year | €46.80 |
| Belfius | Beats Pulse | €0/year | Beats Star | €70.80/year | €70.80 |
| Argenta | Green formula | €0/year | Gold formula | €83.40/year | €83.40 |
One detail shows up immediately: the gap between the two tiers is anything but constant. It runs from €21 a year at KBC to €83.40 at Argenta. That is not the same decision in both cases, and not the same service being bought. The ranking of Belgian banks sets out these annual costs next to the savings rates each institution pays.
Note too that three accounts at €0 a year exist at conventional banks: Argenta Green, Belfius Beats Pulse and the Hello Pack from Hello bank!, BNP Paribas Fortis's digital subsidiary. The entry price of a basic account is therefore not a floor.
What exactly does a basic account contain?
A payment account, one or two debit cards, online banking access, and nothing else by default. Everything else goes through the till.
At Argenta, the Green formula (€0/year) gives two debit cards and accepts two holders at most. Counter deposits are included; counter transfers and cash withdrawals cost €2 per transaction. The credit card is not included: it is added at €2 a month, or €24/year in total, with a monthly limit of €1,250.
At BNP Paribas Fortis, the Easy Go Pack (€24/year) comprises one account, two debit cards and six manual transactions a year. Past the sixth, the bank switches to per-item pricing. The main point of contact is not the branch but the post office — that is the pack's real trade-off, more so than the missing credit card.
The KBC Base Account rose to €2.50 a month on 1 January 2026, or €30/year, against €2 previously. It includes one debit card, a credit card subject to approval, and free withdrawals at KBC ATMs only.
Is your bank's "basic account" the statutory basic banking service?
No, in almost every case, and the confusion costs money. These are two different objects carrying nearly the same name.
The basic banking service is a right framed by Belgian law. Its price is capped and indexed each year: €20.34 per year at most in 2026. It grants a debit card, 36 manual transactions a year and unlimited electronic transactions, with no authorised overdraft and no credit card. It is aimed at people who do not already hold a current account, subject to conditions. Belfius and KBC have charged €1.65 a month since 2026, or €19.80/year — Belfius raised its rate from €1.35 to €1.65 on 1 February 2026, KBC from €1.25 to €1.65 on 1 January.
The KBC Base Account (€30/year) and the Easy Go Pack (€24/year) are commercial products. Open to everyone, with no statutory cap, revisable whenever the bank decides — which it did in January 2026 for both tiers of its range.
From how many counter transactions does a package pay for itself?
At Argenta, from 21 transactions a year. The calculation fits on one line: the Silver formula costs €42/year and includes counter transfers and withdrawals; the Green formula costs nothing but bills them at €2 apiece. €42 divided by €2 gives 21 transactions, slightly under two a month.
Below that threshold, Green stays cheaper, including for someone who goes to the counter once a month: twelve transactions at €2 make €24, against €42 for Silver.
The calculation changes if you want a credit card. Green plus a card at €2/month comes to €24/year. The gap with Silver then falls to €18, and the tipping point to nine counter transactions a year. A credit card in the equation therefore more than halves the threshold.
At BNP Paribas Fortis the mechanics differ: the six annual manual transactions are included in the Easy Go just as in the Easy Guide. So the counter is not what separates the two packs. For anyone exceeding that quota, the "unlimited manual transactions" option is billed €5 a month, or €60/year — more than the gap between the two packs.
What does the €21 gap at KBC actually buy?
A second debit card, free withdrawals across Europe and unlimited paper transfers. Three lines, not one more.
The KBC Base Account (€30/year) gives one debit card and free withdrawals at KBC ATMs only. The KBC Plus Account (€51/year) gives two, adds free withdrawals at every ATM in Europe, a photo on the card and Apple Pay alongside Google Pay. Both accounts include a credit card subject to approval.
The useful benchmark is the unit price of a debit card elsewhere: BNP Paribas Fortis charges €1.20 a month, or €14.40/year, for each extra card. For a couple who need two cards, the €21 gap between the two KBC accounts is therefore absorbed two-thirds by that single line. For a single person who does not leave Belgium, it is not absorbed at all.
Under-25s escape the debate: the KBC Plus Account is free for them.
Do you need to pay for a package to get a credit card?
Rarely, because the card is also sold individually and its price is known. At BNP Paribas Fortis, a Visa Classic costs €2.25 a month, or €27/year, and a Mastercard Gold €4.25 a month, or €51/year.
Do the sum. An Easy Go Pack (€24/year) plus a Visa Classic (€27/year) comes to €51/year. The Easy Guide Pack, which includes two credit cards, costs €66/year. The difference is €15 for a second card billed €27 individually: the pack only becomes worthwhile from two credit cards actually used.
At Argenta the reasoning reaches the same result by another route. Silver (€42/year) includes two credit cards with a €2,500 monthly limit, against a single card with a €1,250 limit in Green. Gold (€83.40/year) raises the limit to €5,000 and adds a travel insurance pack — cancellation up to €6,000, damage to a rental vehicle up to €1,500. The €41.40 separating Silver from Gold buys that insurance, not a banking service.
That is the one place where a package can hold up without a transaction count: if you already pay for cancellation cover elsewhere, compare the two premiums before deciding. The current account comparator puts these institutions side by side, real annual cost against real annual cost.
The universal banking service, the third route nobody offers you
Between the bare account and the package sits a capped formula that banks rarely push: the universal banking service, born of a charter between Febelfin and the federal government in 2021.
Its maximum rate is €62.50 per year, against €60 at launch, plus any charges for sending account statements. In exchange: a debit card, 60 manual transactions a year, 24 ATM withdrawals, free standing orders, and never more than €1 per manual transaction beyond the quota. The scheme has been extended until 2031, a decision announced in June 2026 by minister David Clarinval.
For a profile that does everything by hand, it is the cheapest formula on the market: 60 transactions covered against 6 in an Easy Go Pack. Argenta has folded it into its range — the bank writes that the Silver formula (€42/year) covers all the services of the universal banking service, for €20 less than the ceiling.
Package or basic account: what to choose for your profile?
One question nobody asks at the branch: when did you last redo the calculation? KBC raised both of its tiers in January 2026, Belfius its basic banking service in February, and Belfius cut the Beats Star from €7.50 to €5.90 a month in the same move. A trade-off made in 2023 no longer necessarily holds. The guide on how to choose your bank takes these criteria one by one, and our article on bank fees in Belgium in 2026 sets out the full calculation method.
Sources
- FPS Economy — Basic banking service (accessed 2 August 2026)
- Wikifin (FSMA) — The basic banking service (€20.34 ceiling for 2026, accessed 2 August 2026)
- Febelfin — Q&A: universal banking service (charter, maximum rate and quotas)
- L'Avenir — Universal banking service extended until 2031 (15 June 2026)
- Argenta — Discover our formulas (Green, Silver €3.50/month, Gold €6.95/month — accessed 2 August 2026)
- Argenta — Fee list, document DW 26147 (valid from 9 July 2026)
- BNP Paribas Fortis — Compare our packs (Easy Go €2/month, Easy Guide €5.50/month, options — accessed 2 August 2026)
- KBC — Compare current accounts (Base Account €2.50/month, Plus Account €4.25/month — accessed 2 August 2026)
- Test-Achats — Fee increases at KBC and CBC from January 2026 (15 October 2025)
- RTBF — Belfius raises the price of its basic banking service (December 2025)
- Belfius — Rates and fees in force at 01-02-2026 (February 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.