Best Online Banking Service

Mac128

Is AIB still the best when it comes to online banking?

I have had a falling out with them and I need to switch banks, but online banking is crucial for me as I am self employed.

Also would need a branch somewhere not to far from Ratoath, Meath for lodgements etc.. cos I live there.

Thanks

dotsman

A bank is not a person. They are an organisation owned by thousands/millions of people and employ thousands/tens of thousands of people. You do not have a "falling out" with such an organisation.

If your bank has done something wrong, then you can get them to correct it. There are very strict complaint handling procedures to deal with this. At th very end of the complaint handling procedure is Joe. Once the complaint is dealt with, there is no reason why you cannot enjoy the previous level of good service (assuming you had one!)

Now, if you want to leave because a certain other bank have better services/products etc, then, by all means. But if it's meant as a "protest" of some sort, believe me, you are the only person to lose. It doesn't even register with an organisation when a customer leaves for such a reason. Believe me, there are just as many people joining AIB who have left their previous bank in protest, as there are people leaving AIB in protest.

To answer your question, to be the best of my knowledge, AIB still is the best. I only have current knowledge of BOI and Halifax so can't say for definite about the others. As Ireland's biggest bank (economies of scale) and the fact that it has thousands of employees in IT or IT-related roles (while other banks, such as BOI have veered away from IT), means it is likely to stay that way.

jaycen

Halifax, Ulster bank and BOI all have online systems like AIB, ask for a deom at a branch, they'll show you the ins and outs.

dotsman it is very possible to fall out with an organisation, just because it's made up of thousands of workers and shareholders doesn't mean it's conduct and customer relations can't be offensive to some.

And yes an individual leaving doesn't have a dramatic effect but seening as there has been a huge migration of customers (and staff)from AIB in the past couple of years I'm sure it will become more noticable to management and the shareholders. Your figures must come from a different place than mine as from what I read they lost a big part of market share.

dotsman

jaycen wrote: »

Halifax, Ulster bank and BOI all have online systems like AIB, ask for a deom at a branch, they'll show you the ins and outs.

dotsman it is very possible to fall out with an organisation, just because it's made up of thousands of workers and shareholders doesn't mean it's conduct and customer relations can't be offensive to some.

And yes an individual leaving doesn't have a dramatic effect but seening as there has been a huge migration of customers (and staff)from AIB in the past couple of years I'm sure it will become more noticable to management and the shareholders. Your figures must come from a different place than mine as from what I read they lost a big part of market share.

A "falling out" translates that the OP had a good relationship with his bank (ie that it met his expectations) an that something has happened to disappoint them. Now, if it is a change in bank policy, then the OP has decided that AIB no longer meets his/her expectations. However, a "falling out" sounds like it is more personal and is down to a one-off disagreement (and this is often the case). If this is the case, then it is down to 1 of 2 things - either the OP has unrealistic expectations, or whoever in the bank was dealing with him/her messed up, for which an official complain is a much better route that just walking away, especially if besides this incident, the bank is meeting his/her expectations.

I'd love to see your figures that suggest that there has been a "huge migration" of customers and staff from AIB. As far as I'm aware, AIB has never had more customers nor staff than in the past year!

Mac128

I don't really want to get in to the nitty gritty of the falling out. But in short, I was some years ago a director of a company that was taken to court by AIB. I have been banking personally with AIB for over 20 years now. About 2 years ago I applied for an overdraft facility on my current A/C and was refused. I queried this with my local contact in the bank and he could see no reason for the refusal, but later he came back to me and told me off the record that it was because of the aforementioned and that if he was me, he would change banks.

More recently I applied for a budgetplan (MasterPlan) A/C and again I was refused.

So I think the time has come....

homer911

Personally I think NIB are great, but they dont have many branches:

http://www-2.nationalirishbank.ie/Link/PersonaleBankingDemo

http://www-2.nationalirishbank.ie/Link/BusinesseBankingDemo

chopperbyrne

Just about to start a similar thread.

I'm with Permanent TSB and their Open 24 service is poor.

Their call centre is only open til 14:00 on Saturdays and not open at all on Sundays.

They have very limited options available from the Open 24 site.

Do any of the other online services allow you to create a new standing order or do a credit transfer to someone elses account without the need for someone in the bank to call you back?

It's ridiculous that even though I use two different security codes to log in, it still won't let me do these things.

Edit: Didn't see that NIB post. They're currently looking like a very good option.

MarkR

I find Halifax allow me to do pretty much everything I need in a current account, however their online credit card facilites are the worst I have ever seen. You can't view your transactions online.

Davy

I would agree what MarkR posted. They are meant to be working on the credit card transactions though. The Visa DEBIT transactions are viewable, updated daily.

Halifax Demo

BOI 365 Demo