PTSB or Ulster Bank or...?

Tuathanach

Hi there everybody,

Just need a little information - I am a bit tired of being an AIB customer as I fork out around about 30-40 euro per quarter in fees (i think there was a bank charge in there somewhere etc) but to be honest, I am sick and tired of them - I find them unhelpful and not a good general bank. Too much to go into detail right now.

I am 25 and currently have a well-paid (at least for my age and circumstances) job and am really looking to get serious re: savings, potential mortgage in say 5 years etc and want a serious bank who will assist (i know they're all clowns, but the better clown at least) in achieving my goals. I have heard some pretty good things from clients of PTSB - approving mortgages and being more first-time-buyer friendly, careful but good with giving credit and from the major TV campaigns and other things I see - they seem to be quite an up and coming bank not to mention that I would not pay fees since they introduced the lodge 1500E per month for the fee-waiver.

What are your general opinions on this bank and others, particularly Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank? I am serious re: moving bank and although there's just something in-built inside of me which hates the name 'PTSB' - I think this may be worth overlooking )

Thank you in advance for any replies.

murphaph

The only show in town now (since UB's announcement) is PTSB. None of the others make it anyway reasonable or even possible in the case of BoI to avoid fees.

Tuathanach

murphaph wrote: »

The only show in town now (since UB's announcement) is PTSB. None of the others make it anyway reasonable or even possible in the case of BoI to avoid fees.

Thanks for that! I don't know about your average joe but to have 3K sitting in the account doing nothing is well, never going to be my case anyway! thanks for re-affirming my thoughts!

murphaph

I should correct myself...EBS have their moneymover thing which is an option IIRC.

irish gent

Ulster bank a big pack of wasters this bank is going to shut down no money to give out loans.stay away from them.

zool1974

I agree with the permanent tsb option once you are depositing over 1500 euro a month. But nothing in life is free. Some of their other charges make up for this. For example, if you go to the states a lot, or other places outside Europe, they can charge quite a lot when you use your card in an atm. In dubai I was charged roughly 11 in charges every time I took money out. And that was not including the foreign bank charges. Would be cheaper to take out money on a credit card. So do your homework in regard to hidden fees, etc. The banks websites are generally a wealth of information, just takes a bit of time to find it. Just look for their faq section and search from there

greenman09

Non euro transactions fees on a visa debit card are capped whereas on the credit card it's not. Visa debit would work out cheaper.

zool1974

GreenMan, I'm sure they are capped, but capped at what? I was in the states and dubai, and on both occasions, I was charged quite a lot by permanent tsb for using my visa debit. It was much cheaper to use my credit card. My girlfriend is with a different bank than me, and her transaction fees were a fraction of what mine were.

greenman09

Check out the charges booklet provided or online. Under currency conversion charges. It's a percentage of the euro amount of your transaction for both debit and ATM transactions. There a min per trans and a max

JTMan

zool1974 wrote: »

I agree with the permanent tsb option once you are depositing over 1500 euro a month. But nothing in life is free. Some of their other charges make up for this. For example, if you go to the states a lot, or other places outside Europe, they can charge quite a lot when you use your card in an atm. In dubai I was charged roughly 11 in charges every time I took money out. And that was not including the foreign bank charges. Would be cheaper to take out money on a credit card. So do your homework in regard to hidden fees, etc. The banks websites are generally a wealth of information, just takes a bit of time to find it. Just look for their faq section and search from there

The non-EUR Visa Debit currency conversion charges at PTSB are in line with the other banks.

OP - Go with PTSB.

Davy

UB at branch level are good, but the CC based in NI are a nightmare in my experience.

PTSB on the phone are much better.

zool1974

They might be in line with certain banks, but quite higher than some banks too. My girlfriend is with bank of Ireland and her withdrawal charges were almost half of what mine were, and we both withdrew the same amounts.