Why has BOI put a minimum purchase value of €500 on International Drafts

tucker67

Today I visited the Bank of Ireland branch in Blackrock to purchase a Sterling Draft for the sum of £65 to pay a bill to a vendor in the UK from which I wish to purchase a service. The vendor is a one man operation and does not have a facility to accept electronic funds transfers, or process credit cards and is unwilling to accept a postal order, so the only option available to me is a sterling bankers draft.

Having completed a "International Draft Application" form I was then politely informed that BOI no longer provided international drafts for anything under the value of €500.

This is absolutely ridiculious as it has now left me in a position where I have to wire funds to a friend in the UK at a cost of €35 and have them take time out of their busy schedule to go to their bank and purchase a draft and then mail it to the vendor in question.

I notice BOI are quick enough to take our money, and pay themselves hefty bonuses but for what an absolutley abominable service, or no service at all!

I herewith challange BOI to provide a satisfactory explination for the withdrawl of this service

Vojera

Try the post office. They charge €4 for sterling drafts up to £2000.

tucker67

The post office does Sterling Money orders which my vendor will not accept, they will only accept a sterling draft from one of the main Irish banks so unfortunately the Post Office is not an option for me

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi tucker67,

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Since October 2012 we no longer issue Domestic or Foreign drafts for amounts under €500. 

It's very unfortunate that the vendor cannot accept any of the alternative methods of payment. You mentioned a charge of €35 to transfer to a friends account. If you do an international transfer to the UK on 365Online there are no additional charges on our side, as it's within the EU.

I understand you have asked for an explanation as to why this service was withdrawn however, as per our customer charter, we are here to answer general day to day banking queries. We cannot go into any detail on group wide policy changes.

Thanks
Tara

tucker67

Bank of Ireland: Tara wrote: »

Hi tucker67,

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Since October 2012 we no longer issue Domestic or Foreign drafts for amounts under €500. 

It's very unfortunate that the vendor cannot accept any of the alternative methods of payment. You mentioned a charge of €35 to transfer to a friends account. If you do an international transfer to the UK on 365Online there are no additional charges on our side, as it's within the EU.

I understand you have asked for an explanation as to why this service was withdrawn however, as per our customer charter, we are here to answer general day to day banking queries. We cannot go into any detail on group wide policy changes.

Thanks
Tara

My understanding that to setup an international transfer for 365online is an ardious and tedious task requiring me to apply for it to be setup etc, and then the transfer you talk about will I suspect take 3-5 working days to complete where as I need a 24 hour wire today.  Fortunately Irish Permanent are much more co-operative and provide a sterling draft service even though this means that I  have to take time off work to travel to Bray to pick it up

since you cannot provide an explination can you please PM me with a contact email address where I can make a formal complain, or does this have to be done via hardcopy written letter

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi tucker67,

If you have your mobile phone registered to receive security codes, it would be possible to add and transfer to a payee on the same day. An international transfer within the EU, requested before the 3.30pm cut off time on a working day, reaches the payee's bank in the UK the following working day. This would be a much quicker and convenient process than posting a draft.

For information on how to lodge a formal complaint, please see the Group Customer Complaints section on our website.

Thanks
Tara