You can move a savings account to another Belgian bank at any time, but the loyalty bonus in progress is lost, to the day. On a deposit that is already several months old, leaving almost always costs more than the rate gap brings in: €180 given up against €34 gained in the example below. There is a right day to leave, and it is printed on your statement.
A word on vocabulary for readers new to Belgium. The rate on a regulated savings account (compte d'épargne réglementé) is the sum of a base rate, earned from the day after the deposit, and a loyalty bonus (prime de fidélité), earned only on money left untouched for twelve consecutive months.
A savings account does not move house, it is emptied
"Transfer" is a misleading word. A regulated savings account does not pass from one bank to the next with its history, the way a phone number follows you from one operator to another. It is emptied or closed at the first bank, and a new account starts at the second, with the loyalty clock back at zero.
The bank switching service brochure published by Febelfin, the Belgian banking federation, puts it in one sentence: when a savings account is closed, interest is calculated, but the loyalty bonus on deposits made less than a year ago lapses.
The base rate is paid to you up to the last day. Bonuses already earned remain due. Only the bonus that was still maturing disappears, and it is often the larger share of the return: on a Belfius Fidelity account it accounts for 1.50% out of a total of 1.65%.
What does leaving on 5 October cost, compared with 15 January?
Take a dated case. You paid €20,000 into a Belfius Fidelity account on 15 January 2026. On that date the account's loyalty bonus was 1.25%, and that rate is locked for twelve months, even though Belfius has advertised 1.50% since 1 July. The base rate is 0.15%.
On 5 October 2026 you read that Keytrade Bank pays 2.00% on its High Fidelity account (0.50% base and 1.50% bonus, no deposit cap, according to the Test-Achats survey of 21 September 2026; Test-Achats is the Belgian consumer organisation). The gap is tempting. You hesitate between leaving now and waiting until 15 January 2027, the date your bonus is earned.
That day your deposit is 263 days old. It has built up 263/365 of its annual bonus of €250, that is €180, which vanishes if you leave. On the other side, the 102 days remaining until 15 January earn 2.00% at Keytrade against 1.40% if you stay, a gap of 0.60 point on €20,000 over 102 days: €34.
Leaving on 5 October means paying €180 to earn €34.
Waiting a hundred and two days leaves about €147 more in your pocket, and nothing stops you leaving on 16 January with the bonus earned. The current account does not weigh in this particular case: Keytrade's Keypack costs €0 a year, against €19.80 for the Belfius basic account (fee schedules recorded on 26 July 2026).
The competitor's rate is read on a poster. The cost of leaving is read on your statement, on the line listing bonuses in progress.
From what rate gap is leaving at once justified?
The reasoning generalises into a single division. Leaving an account loses the bonus built up so far; staying loses the rate gap over the days that remain. The two losses cross at a precise age of the deposit, which depends on the total rate gap between the new account and the old one.
Here is that threshold for a bonus in progress of 1.50%, the level on most Belgian accounts on 3 October 2026.
| Total rate gap in favour of the new account | Maximum age of the deposit for leaving at once to pay | Bonus given up at that point, per €10,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 0.25 point | 52 days | €21 |
| 0.50 point | 91 days | €37 |
| 1.00 point | 146 days | €60 |
| 1.50 points | 182 days | €75 |
| 2.00 points | 208 days | €85 |
Our own calculation: age limit = 365 × gap / (bonus in progress + gap). Assumption: the new account accepts the whole sum, with no deposit cap.
How to read it: with a half-point gap, a deposit older than three months is better off finishing its year. With a full point, the limit falls a little before five months. No realistic gap justifies leaving an account in its ninth or tenth month.
The objection: a higher base rate always pays in the end
It is a serious one. The bonus is 1.50% almost everywhere, so the one you give up will be replaced by an identical bonus at the competitor, while the higher base rate is earned from the next day and for every year that follows. Seen over five years, a few months of lost bonus weigh little.
The argument holds on one point and gives way on two others. It holds because the rate gap recurs while the loss happens once. It gives way first because nothing forces you to choose between leaving today and never leaving: waiting for the date the bonus is earned gives you both, the bonus and the new rate, at the price of a few weeks of gap. It gives way second because a base rate is only guaranteed for three months after an increase, and the receiving bank can then trim it on money already deposited; the advantage you project over five years rests on a line the competitor changes whenever it likes.
One case remains where the objection wins outright. On Belfius's standard savings account, the bonus is only 0.30% and the total 0.60%. Against an account at 2.00%, the gap reaches 1.40 points and the threshold in the table climbs to 300 days. On €20,000 you give up €60 of bonus at worst for a gain of €280 a year. There, waiting costs money.
The FSMA, Belgium's financial markets regulator, noted in its opinion of 12 February 2024 an average base rate of 0.61% for an average bonus of 0.93% on €268.9 billion of regulated savings, and declared itself in favour of a single rate. The bonus still exists. As long as it does, the deposit date matters as much as the rate.
An account capped at €500 a month cannot take in capital
The rates that make headlines are not those of the accounts a lump sum can enter. Here are the two families, recorded on 3 October 2026.
| Savings account | Base rate | Loyalty bonus | Total | Deposit cap | Current account at the same bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NIBC Opti (19 August 2026) | 2.00% | 1.50% | 3.50% | €500/month | none, NIBC does not offer one |
| Belfius Flow (18 September 2026) | 1.83% | 1.50% | 3.33% | €600/month | €19.80/year |
| KBC Start2Save (1 August 2026) | 1.65% | 1.50% | 3.15% | €500/month | €30/year |
| Argenta Croissance (1 August 2026) | 1.65% | 1.50% | 3.15% | €500/month | €0/year |
| ING Épargne Tempo (1 July 2026) | 1.60% | 1.50% | 3.10% | €500/month | €0/year |
| MeDirect Essential (21 September 2026) | 1.40% | 0.80% | 2.20% | €25,000 in total | not recorded |
| Keytrade High Fidelity (21 September 2026) | 0.50% | 1.50% | 2.00% | none | €0/year |
| Belfius Fidelity (18 September 2026) | 0.15% | 1.50% | 1.65% | none | €19.80/year |
| Argenta Fidélité (1 August 2026) | 0.10% | 1.40% | 1.50% | none | €0/year |
In brackets, the date of the latest survey or published change. Current accounts: the bank's cheapest formula, fee schedules of 26 July 2026 (Belfius basic account, KBC Compte de base, Argenta Green, ING Lion Account, Keytrade Keypack).
Moving €20,000 into an NIBC Opti at 3.50% takes forty months, at €500 a month. After a year the account has received only €6,000.
These accounts reward a monthly deposit, and there the sum changes in nature: redirecting a standing order loses no bonus at all, since the money already deposited stays where it is and finishes its year. The gain, however, is modest. Going from €500 a month on a KBC Start2Save to €500 a month on an NIBC Opti brings in, the first year, 0.35 point of base rate on deposits present for six and a half months on average, about €11.
Eleven euros. If the receiving bank also asks you to open a paid current account, the gain is negative: going from an ING Épargne Tempo to a Belfius Flow brings in €7.50 the first year on the same deposit, against €19.80 for the basic account.
Does the bank switching service transfer a savings account?
Yes, on a condition few people know: both the old and the new bank must appear on the list of institutions offering the procedure for savings, published on bankswitching.be. For a current account, every bank is bound by it. For savings, check the list.
The procedure takes at least ten bank working days and at most one month, on the date you set. The old bank closes the account and transfers the balance and the interest. It does not transfer the bonus in progress. The service spares you the paperwork, not the sum above, and our step-by-step guide to switching banks covers the current account side.
Can you change account without losing the bonus?
Within the same bank, in principle yes. Test-Achats recalled it on 9 July 2025: a transfer to another savings account in your name, at the same institution, keeps the bonuses in progress. Minimum €500, three transfers per calendar year at most.
The route suits anyone sitting on a standard account at 0.60% while their own bank pays 1.65% on another. It runs into trouble on capped accounts: ask in writing whether the internal transfer counts towards the €500 or €600 monthly limit.
Four checks before giving the order
- The date each deposit earns its bonus. Since 1 July 2024, every bank must tell you each quarter which bonus and base rate apply; most apps also display bonuses in progress and their due date.
- The cap on the receiving account, monthly or overall. MeDirect Essential stops at €25,000.
- Whether a current account is required, and its annual cost, to be read in the fee information document (document d'information tarifaire).
- The order of withdrawals. The rule recalled by Wikifin, the FSMA's consumer site, works in your favour: the bank must treat you as withdrawing the latest deposits first. A partial move therefore takes the youngest tranches, the ones that lose least.
Move the monthly deposit, let the capital mature
A bonus earned on 15 January is credited to the account on 1 April, the first day of the following quarter. In principle it remains due to you if you withdraw the money between the two dates, since it has been earned; still, ask the bank to confirm this before a closure, and keep the statement.
This site compares fees, rates and conditions. It recommends no investment and gives no personal advice.
To place the savings rate within the total cost of a bank, our ranking of Belgian banks sets the two side by side, and the bank comparison tool lets you sort them. The mechanics of base rate and bonus are detailed in why the advertised rate is not your return, and the alternative of locking money away in term deposit or savings account. If you disagree with your bank over a bonus not paid after a transfer, Ombudsfin, the Belgian financial ombudsman, handles complaints free of charge once the bank's internal service has been tried.
Sources
- Febelfin, Bank switching service brochure (in French): 2024 edition, conditions for savings accounts, ten bank working days to one month, fate of the loyalty bonus on closure. Consulted on 3 October 2026.
- FSMA, Opinion of 12 February 2024 on the loyalty bonus (in French): €268.9 billion of regulated savings, average base rate 0.61%, average bonus 0.93%.
- Wikifin (FSMA), What does your savings account earn you? (in French): bonus earned after twelve months, quarterly payment, order of withdrawals. Page updated on 12 May 2026.
- Test-Achats, Loyalty bonus: definition: 9 July 2025, transfer between savings accounts at the same bank, €500 minimum, three transfers per calendar year.
- Test-Achats, The savings account more transparent, really?: 15 March 2024, quarterly information on bonus and base rate from 1 July 2024.
- Test-Achats, Rising rates: 5 ways to earn more on short-term savings: 21 September 2026, MeDirect Essential at 1.40% + 0.80% capped at €25,000, Keytrade High Fidelity at 0.50% + 1.50%.
- Test-Achats, NIBC Opti: the savings rate rises to 3.50%: base rate raised from 1.50% to 2.00% on 19 August 2026, cap of €500 a month.
- Test-Achats, Argenta raises its savings rate again: Croissance account at 1.65% + 1.50% and Fidélité account at 0.10% + 1.40% on 1 August 2026.
- Test-Achats, KBC takes the lead on savings accounts with a 3.15% rate: 7 July 2026, Start2Save at 1.65% + 1.50% on 1 August.
- Belfius, Change to the base rate on Belfius Flow (in French): press release of 11 September 2026, base rate raised from 1.60% to 1.83% on 18 September, Fidelity and standard savings account unchanged.
- Ombudsfin, Filing a complaint: free mediation in banking disputes. Consulted on 3 October 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.