The basic account: the bank must open it for you, and with a low ISEE it is free

Is your ISEE below € 11,600? Go to a bank or to the Post Office and ask for the conto di base: it is free, and the law says they are obliged to open it for you. Everything else is below — what you can do with it, what documents you need, and what to say if they turn you down.

Opening a current account is not a favour the bank does you. There is an account, called the conto di base (basic account), which every bank, Poste Italiane and every other payment provider is obliged to offer — and not only to people with a good income: to anyone entitled to stay legally in Italy or in a European Union country.

Including, and the rules say so explicitly, people with no fixed address and people who have applied for asylum.

With an ISEE below € 11,600 it costs nothing

If your ISEE is below € 11,600, the basic account is completely free: no monthly fee and no stamp duty either.

There is also the case of pensioners with a gross annual pension below € 18,000: for them the account is free, but the stamp duty remains, € 34.20 a year.

But there is a deadline almost nobody knows about, and it is the one that costs people the free account. The ISEE certificate must be handed in every year, by 31 May. If you do not, the benefit lapses — and not from June: from 1 January, that is for the whole year, backwards.

Put it in the calendar: it is one of those things people discover from a charge on the statement.

If you fall into neither case you can still open a basic account, with a modest fee, provided you do not already hold another payment account.

Not sure what your ISEE is? It is issued free of charge, and we have written how here: the ISEE, the number that decides what you pay.

What you can do with it

Everything you need in order to live and work:

• receive your salary or pension;
• make and receive transfers;
• withdraw and deposit cash;
• pay bills;
• hold a debit card — the bancomat.

What it does not include: an overdraft, cheques and a securities account. For everyday life you do not need them.

The operations are counted

This is the part written at the bottom of the fact sheet, and it is the part to know first: the basic account includes a set number of operations per year. Beyond that number, you pay.

How many is fixed by annex A of Ministry of Economy decree no. 70 of 2018 — which is why basic accounts at different banks look so alike. But every provider publishes its own table, and that is the one to read before signing.

This, as a concrete example, is Poste Italiane's for the BancoPosta basic account, from the fact sheet in force since 15 April 2026:

Operation	Included in a year
Payments received by transfer (salary and pension included)	36
Withdrawals at Postamat cash machines	unlimited
Bill direct debits (SEPA direct debits)	unlimited
Payments with the debit card	unlimited
Withdrawals at another bank's cash machine, in Italy	12
Cash and cheque deposits	12
Standing orders	12
Transfers and postagiro	6
Cash withdrawals at the counter	6
Statements of movements	6
Account statements sent to you	4
Issue or replacement of the debit card	1

Seen like that, it becomes clear who the account is designed for: cash-machine withdrawals, bill direct debits and card payments are unlimited. What is counted are transfers, deposits and counter withdrawals — the things done a few times a year.

Two lines of that sheet deserve more attention than the rest:

• unused operations are not carried over. If in a year you make two transfers instead of six, the other four do not roll into next year;
• beyond the set numbers, the extra operations are charged for, at the fees written in the fact sheet. This holds even if your account is free: what you do not pay is the annual charge, not every operation you make.

Why it matters more than it looks

Without an account you cannot even collect your wages in Italy: since 2018 an employer may not pay in cash, and must use a transfer or another traceable method. Someone with no account is cut off from their own salary.

And there is the part that concerns anyone sending money home: having an account means being able to compare the cost of a transfer instead of accepting whatever the shop downstairs charges.

If the bank pushes back

It happens, and that is why the rules are written so precisely.

The bank may refuse only on a legitimate suspicion — about identity, say, or anti-money-laundering obligations — and must tell you within ten working days. «We don't do that», «you need registered residence», «you need an income» are not valid reasons.

If you are told no at the counter, three things:

1. ask for the refusal in writing, with the reason;
2. ask explicitly for the «conto di base», by that name: it is not the ordinary account at a discount, it is a product of its own, and staff sometimes do not offer it because it earns them little;
3. if that is not enough, the Bank of Italy has asked providers to offer it actively to those entitled — you can say so.

Changing your mind costs nothing

The basic account closes for free, and can be moved to another bank at no cost: bill direct debits and salary payments move with it. You are not tied to whoever opened it.

What to bring

An identity document, your codice fiscale, and — for the free version — your ISEE certificate. You also declare that you do not already hold another basic account.

Were you turned away at a bank? Tell us in the Money and bills section of the community: knowing which branch does it and which does not is useful to everyone.