Opening Saturdays & banking fees

witnessmenow

Hi

I'm sure these decisions are made from the highest level, but I would just like to throw my two cents here.

I have been banking with BOI since first year in secondary school (im now 24) but its coming to a stage where I think im going to have to move bank. The two reasons are the topic title:

Opening Saturdays:
I'm kinda of the opinion that the bank should be available to me at a time that suits me. I work Mon-Fri 9-5(ish) so if I want to go to the bank I need to take some time off work. The closest branch to me isnt a million miles away but I wouldnt get there and back during lunch.

That much I could probably live with, I have online banking so going to the bank is fairly rare for me. But here is a scenario that I am struggling with: Myself and my partner are looking to set up a joint savings account and would like to seek advice on such. She is a BOI customer too. Both of our branches are the Athlone branch. She works in Mullingar, I work in Galway. If we wanted to go into our branch to set up a joint acc we would both need to take time off work.


Banking Fees:
I think BOI's criteria for free fees is crazy. Currently not an issue as I am on a grad account, but that wont last! So if I understand right the criteria for free banking is:

1. Lodge at least €3,000 in your Personal Current account AND make 9 debit payments from that account using 365 Phone and/or Online over the course of a fee quarter (This is the equivalent of a €1,000 net salary lodgement and 3 payments per month). Payments made by standing order or direct debit do not qualify as 365 Phone and/or Online payments for the purpose of this offer.

OR

2. Maintain a minimum credit balance of €3,000 in your Personal Current account throughout the full fee quarter. Please refer to our Schedule of Fees and Charges for specific dates for our fee quarters.

Option 2 is pretty much out for me as I want to put any excess money I have into the joint savings acc

Option 1 - part 1(Lodge at least €3,000 in your Personal Current account): is fine

Option 1 - part 2( make 9 debit payments from that account using 365 Phone and/or Online over the course of a fee quarter): I dont know how anybody meets this. Its 9 random payments out of your account in 3 months, It doesnt even include DD or standing orders. I dont know who would do this is normal scenario.


Is there anything in the pipeline for either of these?

Good luck with the forum

Bank of Ireland: Pat

Hi witnessmenow,

Thanks for getting in touch. I understand your frustrations.

We have a savings advice team that are available to discuss our range of savings products over the phone. This team will be able to advise you which product is most suitable for your needs. It is possible to open some of our regular joint savings accounts by post so that you and your partner would not need to visit the branch. The savings team will be able to talk you through this.

If you'd like me to set up a call for you, please PM me your contact details. Or if you prefer you can give them a ring on 1890 365 294.

In terms of our no transaction fee offer, you are correct, these are the current criteria. Unfortunately, there are no plans to change this at the moment.

If you have any further questions or want me to arrange that call just let me know.

Thanks
Pat

delos

witnessmenow wrote: »

Hi
Option 1 - part 2( make 9 debit payments from that account using 365 Phone and/or Online over the course of a fee quarter): I dont know how anybody meets this. Its 9 random payments out of your account in 3 months, It doesnt even include DD or standing orders. I dont know who would do this is normal scenario.

What I do is pay my credit card and make two small transfers to my Credit Union each month. Three transfers of €1 per month is enough to keep the fees away. If I don't want to move money into the Credit Union I just split my credit card into 3 seperate transactions. If I don't have a credit card bill I make three small transactions to my Credit Union account.

If you pay all your bills and such like by DD or SO just set your partner up so that you can make three payments to their current account and get them to do likewise. I know it is a bit contrived but it actually only takes a minute to do this sort of thing if you are on the website for something else.

harolds57

delos wrote: »

What I do is pay my credit card and make two small transfers to my Credit Union each month. Three transfers of €1 per month is enough to keep the fees away. If I don't want to move money into the Credit Union I just split my credit card into 3 seperate transactions. If I don't have a credit card bill I make three small transactions to my Credit Union account.

Why should you have to bother doing this, theres banks out there that dont charge you a cent and you dont have to go to all the above hassle of making 9 payments and dont forget Direct Debit or standing orders dont count. The bank will rip you off if you let them.

Boards.ie: Nicola

harolds57 wrote: »

Why should you have to bother doing this, theres banks out there that dont charge you a cent and you dont have to go to all the above hassle of making 9 payments and dont forget Direct Debit or standing orders dont count. The bank will rip you off if you let them.

harolds57, this forum is for all queries relating to banking with Bank of Ireland. If you have not already, please take the time to review the charter.

Thanks,
Nicola

Funkygreendogs

witnessmenow wrote: »

Hi

I'm sure these decisions are made from the highest level, but I would just like to throw my two cents here.

I have been banking with BOI since first year in secondary school (im now 24) but its coming to a stage where I think im going to have to move bank. The two reasons are the topic title:

Opening Saturdays:
I'm kinda of the opinion that the bank should be available to me at a time that suits me. I work Mon-Fri 9-5(ish) so if I want to go to the bank I need to take some time off work. The closest branch to me isnt a million miles away but I wouldnt get there and back during lunch.

That much I could probably live with, I have online banking so going to the bank is fairly rare for me. But here is a scenario that I am struggling with: Myself and my partner are looking to set up a joint savings account and would like to seek advice on such. She is a BOI customer too. Both of our branches are the Athlone branch. She works in Mullingar, I work in Galway. If we wanted to go into our branch to set up a joint acc we would both need to take time off work.


Banking Fees:
I think BOI's criteria for free fees is crazy. Currently not an issue as I am on a grad account, but that wont last! So if I understand right the criteria for free banking is:



Option 2 is pretty much out for me as I want to put any excess money I have into the joint savings acc

Option 1 - part 1(Lodge at least €3,000 in your Personal Current account): is fine

Option 1 - part 2( make 9 debit payments from that account using 365 Phone and/or Online over the course of a fee quarter): I dont know how anybody meets this. Its 9 random payments out of your account in 3 months, It doesnt even include DD or standing orders. I dont know who would do this is normal scenario.


Is there anything in the pipeline for either of these?

Good luck with the forum

I aggree with this, banking since first year secondary school, all through college, graduation and now working full time for the past 4/5 years. I will change my bank to Ulster Bank to avail of their customer service/constant improvement process and the fact that they open saturdays gives me the ability to do my banking without having to drive into the city and ultimatly take time off work to do the simpilest things.

I remember once driving into the city during my lunch break to cash a check for €80 into my account only to return to a €75 parking ticket on my car... pretty sure i was charged some kind of banking fee for it too so I lost money

Just recently had my online banking suspended due to "security concerns", no one there could tell me what exactly happened and I felt like I was talking to a robot that was reading from a script, they had no clue what to say or do, honestly they could have just sent me their company-approved script and had me read it for myself. How are we supposed to protect ourselves online if you cant even tell us what the scenario was that led to my account beind suspended?