| Bank | Approval fee | Servicing fee | Appraisal |
|---|---|---|---|
| DBS | €495 | no data | no data |
| Delavska hranilnica | 1.50% (€350 to €500) | €3.90 / month | €250 |
| Gorenjska banka | 1.70% (€100 to €900) | €3.19 / month | €300 |
| Intesa Sanpaolo Bank | no data | €5.50 / month | no data |
| LON | 1.20% (€300 to €800) | €3.90 / month | no data |
| NLB | no charge | €5.00 / month | no data |
| OTP banka | no data | €3.10 / month | no data |
| Primorska hranilnica | no charge | €3.50 / month | €350 |
| Sparkasse | €790 | €2.99 / month | included in the approval fee |
| UniCredit Banka Slovenija | €280 | no charge | no data |
For a €150,000 mortgage over 20 years, non-customer offer. For a calculation with your own numbers, use the APR calculator or the mortgage comparison.
When you compare loans, most people look only at the interest rate and the monthly instalment. Banks, though, often charge extra on top: an arrangement fee, a monthly loan-servicing fee, and, for mortgages, a property appraisal. None of these costs is obvious at first glance, and added together they can mean several hundred euros of difference between offers.
In short:
- An arrangement fee is one-off, a servicing fee is monthly, and an appraisal only applies to a mortgage.
- Which of these a bank charges, and how much, varies a lot from bank to bank. You’ll find current amounts by bank in the table at the top of this article.
- All of these costs (except third-party services already carried out, such as a notary) must by law be included in the APR, which is why the APR, not the nominal rate, is what you should compare.
What these three costs actually are
An arrangement fee is a one-off charge a bank collects when the contract is signed, for processing the application, checking your creditworthiness, and preparing the documentation. Some banks don’t charge it at all, others set it as a flat amount, others as a percentage of the approved amount, often within a set floor and cap.
A servicing fee is a monthly charge that runs for as long as you’re repaying the loan, for administering the loan account and tracking payments. It isn’t a mandatory line item by law, but today it’s part of the offer at a large share of banks.
A property appraisal only comes into play for a mortgage. The bank requires it to establish the property’s market value, which underpins the collateral and determines how much you can actually borrow (typically up to 80% of the appraised value). It’s carried out by a licensed appraiser from the bank’s own list, and the cost is usually yours to bear.
A bank decides on its own which of these three costs to charge. Slovenian consumer credit law (ZPotK-2) requires that, with the exception of third-party services already carried out, such as a notary, they be included in the APR calculation.
Arrangement fee: flat, a percentage, or nothing at all
In practice, the differences between banks are considerable. Some currently don’t charge an arrangement fee at all, others have a flat amount, others a percentage of the loan, often with a defined floor and cap. So “the arrangement fee” isn’t a single market-wide figure, it’s a concrete number you need to check at each bank for your own amount and term. You’ll find current figures by bank in the table at the top of this article.
If you repay the loan early, you’re entitled to a proportional refund of part of the arrangement fee, this applies to contracts signed after 7 August 2010. It doesn’t apply to services already carried out, such as an appraisal.
Servicing fee: a monthly cost that runs for the whole term
This is a cost that’s easy to overlook, because on a monthly basis it looks small. Some banks don’t charge it, others charge a few euros a month, for as long as the loan runs.
That’s exactly the trap: even a seemingly small monthly cost adds up fast over a long term. Say a bank charged €4/month, which is well within the range you actually see on the market. Over a 20-year mortgage that’s nearly €1,000 across the full term, money you simply don’t see if you only look at the interest rate. You’ll find current amounts by bank in the table above.
Property appraisal: who pays and how much it costs
For a mortgage, an appraisal is almost always required and the cost is yours to bear. The amount varies between banks, and at some it’s already bundled into the arrangement fee and not charged separately, worth checking in advance.
If the appraisal comes in below the agreed purchase price, the bank will approve a smaller loan, and you’ll need to cover the gap yourself. That’s why it’s not a good idea to spend all your savings on the deposit before you know the appraisal result.
Why the bank doesn’t show you this in the ad
Ads highlight the nominal interest rate, because it’s one simple number that sounds good. The APR and the detailed costs only show up in the pre-contractual information you get once you actually apply for an offer. The law requires all costs to be included in the APR, but it doesn’t require a bank to itemize them in its advertising.
That’s why comparing offers purely by the advertised rate can be misleading. A bank with a lower nominal rate but high fixed arrangement and servicing fees can end up costing you more than a bank whose rate looks less attractive.
Example: how a few hundred euros in hidden costs move the APR
For illustration, take a €150,000 mortgage over 20 years at a 3.6% nominal rate. The figures below are hypothetical, meant only to show the mechanism, not tied to any specific bank. Add €300 in arrangement fee, €300 for the appraisal, and €4/month in servicing fees, which comes to nearly €1,000 over 20 years, and the total non-interest costs pass €1,500. That moves the APR up by roughly 0.15 to 0.25 percentage points relative to the bare nominal rate, small at first glance, less so in absolute euros.
For a consumer loan, the effect is relatively larger, because the amount is smaller and the term shorter: on a €20,000 loan over 5 years, the arrangement and servicing fees together can push the APR up by more than 1 percentage point.
How to check the real cost before you sign
Before signing, ask for a detailed pre-contractual calculation that lists the arrangement fee, servicing fee, and appraisal separately, not as one combined number. Ask exactly what’s included in the APR and what isn’t, notary costs and property insurance typically aren’t. Also check whether opening a current account or buying a package is a condition for the advertised rate, and how much that package actually costs per month.
The easiest way to compare offers is to use the same amount, the same term, and the same repayment method across banks, which is exactly what our APR calculator does.
Summary
Hidden costs aren’t illegal, they’re simply part of how banks price a loan, and part of the amount you need to factor in when comparing. The most reliable way to compare remains the APR, not the nominal rate. Before you decide, check whether the bank charges a servicing fee, what the arrangement fee is, and, for a mortgage, how much the appraisal costs. You’ll find current amounts by bank in the table at the top of this article; to run the numbers with your own parameters, use the mortgage comparison or the APR calculator.
