Bank and payments in Belgium: your Dutch IBAN may not be refused, and the basic banking service costs at most € 20.34

Yes, you can bank in Belgium with your Dutch account, and nobody may send you away for it. Your Europe is firm about it: whoever uses a SEPA transfer or direct debit to pay a bill or to receive pay, a benefit or a tax refund may not be refused by the other party because the account is in another EU country, as long as that party accepts such transactions from domestic accounts. That is called IBAN discrimination, and you report it to the competent authority of the other party's country. What a Belgian account costs, the bank decides itself; the basic banking service is the safety net, with a maximum of € 20.34 a year in 2026. The trap is not the bank but the paper: a Belgian bank asks for your identity card, and the EU card only comes weeks after your application at the municipality.

Why does your Dutch account simply keep working?

Belgium and the Netherlands are both in the eurozone and in the SEPA area. Your Europe sums up the consequences: for a payment in euros within the EU your bank may not charge more than for a domestic payment, and for a direct debit taken wrongly or for the wrong amount you are entitled to a refund within eight weeks, at home and in other EU countries. If you run into a problem, your bank must answer your complaint in writing within fifteen days, in exceptional cases within 35 days.

In practice it means your Belgian pay may be paid into your Dutch IBAN, your energy supplier should accept your Dutch direct debit, and you don't have to force anything in the first weeks after arrival. Why you still want a Belgian account alongside it comes below.

What does a Belgian bank ask for?

Wikifin, the site of the Belgian financial supervisor FSMA, keeps it short: to open a current account the bank asks for your identity card, with which it reads name, date of birth and residence, and your signature. Opening online is possible too, with a copy of the front and back of your identity card by post or e-mail, or through the electronic identity card with card reader or the itsme app. A bank may refuse you certain services, such as bank cards or online banking, but not the basic banking service if you meet the conditions.

For whoever has just arrived, that is the knot: the electronic EU card from the residence procedure is your Belgian identity card, and it only comes after the residence check. Until then you work with your Dutch account, or you try with your passport and your annex 19; whether a bank accepts that differs per bank and is deliberately not stated here.

What does it cost?

Item	Rule or amount
Payment in euros within the EU	no more expensive than a domestic payment
Employer or supplier refuses an IBAN from another EU country	prohibited (IBAN discrimination), to be reported to the competent authority
Direct debit taken wrongly	refund within 8 weeks
Bank's answer to a complaint	within 15 days, exceptionally 35
Opening a current account	identity card and signature; costs per bank, in the fee brochure
Basic banking service, maximum amount 2026	€ 20.34 a year, indexed annually
Basic banking service, manual transactions	36 a year; electronic unlimited
Fee change by the bank	notify 2 months in advance; whoever disagrees closes free of charge

The ordinary current account has no legal tariff. The bank decides itself what it charges and puts it in its fee brochure, officially the "Fee information document", which is available in every branch; the most common items are annual management fees, fees per transaction, fees for cards and postage for statements. Once a year you get an overview of what the bank actually charged, and at a fee change you have two months to leave without cost.

When does the basic banking service help?

When a bank refuses you an ordinary account. Every consumer legally residing in an EU member state is entitled to the basic banking service: a current account with deposits, withdrawals, transfers, standing orders, direct debits and a debit card, without being allowed to go overdrawn. The bank may only refuse it if you already have a basic banking service or a payment account at a Belgian bank, already have € 6,000 in an account elsewhere or credits of at least € 6,000, or if acceptance would breach the anti-money-laundering act. It may not ask how much you earn, demand a guarantor or push other products. If it fails, first the bank's complaints service and then Ombudsfin.

Open the Belgian account once the EU card is there, not before. Whoever walks from bank to bank in the first week with a passport and an annex 19 loses time the Dutch account already covers. The card comes by itself; the pay may go to your Dutch IBAN in the meantime.

Where the bank falls in the last phase of the journey, next to the energy supplier and the tax return, is in the step-by-step plan for Belgium.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Belgium or go straight to step 5.3 in the open plan.