AIB to charge 1c per use of contactless payment - best alternative banks?

virginmediapls

I have been an AIB customer since birth. My parents opened an account in my name. I am going to close my account as I find this change abhorrent and unacceptable - https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/aib-to-charge-fees-for-contactless-payments-and-current-accounts-39031416.html .

Especially announcing it in the current climate, hoping it will go under the radar. I am planning to change bank ASAP.

What are the best alternatives? I currently have a current a/c and savings a/c and am mortgage approved by AIB but happy enough to cancel that and go elsewhere as their rates are ****e anyway.

Thanks

landofthetree

virginmediapls wrote: »

I have been an AIB customer since birth. My parents opened an account in my name. I am going to close my account as I find this change abhorrent and unacceptable - https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/aib-to-charge-fees-for-contactless-payments-and-current-accounts-39031416.html .

Especially announcing it in the current climate, hoping it will go under the radar. I am planning to change bank ASAP.

What are the best alternatives? I currently have a current a/c and savings a/c and am mortgage approved by AIB but happy enough to cancel that and go elsewhere as their rates are ****e anyway.

Thanks

https://www.ebs.ie/daily-banking/ebs-moneymanager-account-and-debit-card

EBS money manager.

But I hear its not great at the app/online stuff.

gmisk

I am on an old PTSB account which is free if you lodge a certain amount find them grand

van_beano

Same as Ulster Bank last year, I moved to KBC. Free banking once €2k is lodged per month. No issues so far over the year I've been with them. The whole cashless bank set-up is annoying if you want to lodge cash, I don't have much cash so doesn't bother me :rolleyes:

Alun

I'm with AIB and I use contactless, well Google Pay actually, for pretty much everything these days and in the last 12 months I made 406 contactless payments, which would cost me an eye watering €4.06 in fees. I think I can just about manage to afford that to be honest.

van_beano

Alun wrote: »

I'm with AIB and I use contactless, well Google Pay actually, for pretty much everything these days and in the last 12 months I made 406 contactless payments, which would cost me an eye watering €4.06 in fees. I think I can just about manage to afford that to be honest.

People said that about Ulster Banks fee's last year, Ulster Bank have since increased their fee's again in the last couple of weeks.

You also now have to pay the quarterly fee's as well on top of your €4.06.

GerardKeating

Alun wrote: »

I'm with AIB and I use contactless, well Google Pay actually, for pretty much everything these days and in the last 12 months I made 406 contactless payments, which would cost me an eye watering €4.06 in fees. I think I can just about manage to afford that to be honest.

Get an AIB CREDIT card, and pay it in full at the end of each month, use the credit card for everything EXCEPT ATM. Only use the debit card if/when you want cash from an ATM.

Alun

van_beano wrote: »

People said that about Ulster Banks fee's last year, Ulster Bank have since increased their fee's again in the last couple of weeks.

You also now have to pay the quarterly fee's as well on top of your €4.06.

Expect more of that though from all the banks. Banks are earning less and less, in some cases negative amounts, on their holdings, so the money to run the place has to come from somewhere.

Irish_peppa

Alun wrote: »

I'm with AIB and I use contactless, well Google Pay actually, for pretty much everything these days and in the last 12 months I made 406 contactless payments, which would cost me an eye watering €4.06 in fees. I think I can just about manage to afford that to be honest.

What is the story with google pay? Is that like paypal? Whats the advantages. I saw a girl using her phone to pay in lidl holding it up to the Card machine seemed a bit awkward

van_beano

Alun wrote: »

Expect more of that though from al lbanks. Banks are earning less and less, in some cases negative amounts, on their holdings, so the money to run the place has to come from somewhere.

KBC seem to be functioning ok at the moment (famous last words)

Alun

GerardKeating wrote: »

Get an AIB CREDIT card, and pay it in full at the end of each month, use the credit card for everything EXCEPT ATM. Only use the debit card if/when you want cash from an ATM.

You'd pay more for the credit card stamp duty charge than you'd save in fees though unless you made 3000 debit card payments per year.

Alun

Irish_peppa wrote: »

What is the story with google pay? Is that like paypal? Whats the advantages. I saw a girl using her phone to pay in lidl holding it up to the Card machine seemed a bit awkward

It's just an extension of your debit or credit card effectively. Not awkward at all, not sure how you thought that.

Fireball81

Revolute or N26 - no fees and they support apple pay and Google pay.

Mickeroo

van_beano wrote: »

Same as Ulster Bank last year, I moved to KBC. Free banking once €2k is lodged per month. No issues so far over the year I've been with them. The whole cashless bank set-up is annoying if you want to lodge cash, I don't have much cash so doesn't bother me :rolleyes:

AIB are free too once you have 2.5k lodged, will this charge not be covered by that?

shanec1928

landofthetree wrote: »

https://www.ebs.ie/daily-banking/ebs-moneymanager-account-and-debit-card

EBS money manager.

But I hear its not great at the app/online stuff.

awful isnt the word for it

HBC08

van_beano wrote: »

Same as Ulster Bank last year, I moved to KBC. Free banking once €2k is lodged per month. No issues so far over the year I've been with them. The whole cashless bank set-up is annoying if you want to lodge cash, I don't have much cash so doesn't bother me :rolleyes:

With Ulster Bank now you just need a balance of over 3k in current acc to avoid all fees.Not putting money in every month,just keeping a balance above 3k.

virginmediapls

Mickeroo wrote: »

AIB are free too once you have 2.5k lodged, will this charge not be covered by that?

No it won't. They are also introducing quarterly fees regardless of the amount in your account.

suave.4u

van_beano wrote: »

People said that about Ulster Banks fee's last year, Ulster Bank have since increased their fee's again in the last couple of weeks.

You also now have to pay the quarterly fee's as well on top of your €4.06.

1 cents from May. This time next year they’ll have it up to 50cent.

IAMAMORON

The only issue I have is that AIB have just thrown the charge on.

As a customer I never asked for the convenience . Furthermore where does the precedent stop?

I agree it shouldn't cost more than 20c a week, but it adds up for them.

Switching banks is kneejerk considering it is generally a race to the bottom with all providers.

Irish_peppa

Alun wrote: »

It's just an extension of your debit or credit card effectively. Not awkward at all, not sure how you thought that.

Hmmmm must check it out:)

Fann Linn

What would happen if you ran your AIB card through a Curve card?

dragonfly!

virginmediapls wrote: »

I have been an AIB customer since birth. My parents opened an account in my name. I am going to close my account as I find this change abhorrent and unacceptable - https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/aib-to-charge-fees-for-contactless-payments-and-current-accounts-39031416.html .

Especially announcing it in the current climate, hoping it will go under the radar. I am planning to change bank ASAP.

What are the best alternatives? I currently have a current a/c and savings a/c and am mortgage approved by AIB but happy enough to cancel that and go elsewhere as their rates are ****e anyway.

Thanks

EBS dont have charges with a money manager account and I have always found their staff excellent to deal with when I was getting my mortgage
however.... their online site is super old fashioned and they dont have an app

SmallTeapot

Fireball81 wrote: »

Revolute or N26 - no fees and they support apple pay and Google pay.

This. I’m an AIB customer, but transfer money to my Revolut card and use it for daily contactless payments. I also have an N26 account but don’t use it as much as Revolut. N26 is a fully operating bank that has zero fees.

van_beano

HBC08 wrote: »

With Ulster Bank now you just need a balance of over 3k in current acc to avoid all fees.Not putting money in every month,just keeping a balance above 3k.

Not since last year, you still have to pay €2 per month maintenance fee. All transaction fees are waived though if you keep the €3k balance. It used to be everything was free if you kept the €3k balance.

HBC08

van_beano wrote: »

Not since last year, you still have to pay €2 per month maintenance fee. All transaction fees are waived though if you keep the €3k balance. It used to be everything was free if you kept the €3k balance.

Thanks,I didn't know that.
I need a local branch to use from time to time so need to bank with one of the big banks.Looks like im screwed!

Mickeroo

virginmediapls wrote: »

No it won't. They are also introducing quarterly fees regardless of the amount in your account.

Boo urns!

Sierra Oscar

Also looks like maintenance fees are being introduced irrespective of account balance.

https://aib.ie/content/dam/aib/personal/docs/fees-and-charges/a-guide-to-fees-and-charges-for-personal-accounts.pdf

Your Current Account banking has previously been provided free of maintenance and transaction fees when you have kept a minimum balance of €2,500 in each quarter. This option will be withdrawn on 30th May 2020.

Stuck with them for many years but I'll probably dump them now and move elsewhere.

Tazz T

Revolut and N26 are the obvious accounts to go for here. I still run my PTSB (no charges) in tandem with N26 as I test it out the service (no complaints).

Unfortunately, by not fully implementing SEPA, AIB doesn't allow you to transfer money to either. Basically, they're saying that both Revolut and N26 are foreign accounts (no one else seems to do this).

Regardless of the price increases, this is a very dodgy on behalf on AIB and really should be investigated by the banking regulator or the competition authority.

I really hope they end up losing a lot of custom over this. Still gouging the public despite the bail out.

GerardKeating

Mickeroo wrote: »

AIB are free too once you have 2.5k lodged, will this charge not be covered by that?

Not any more, as per the OP, this ends in May

JTMan

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Also looks like maintenance fees are being introduced irrespective of account balance.

Yes and this charge will mean that many AIB customers will now be paying 80 EUR a year in maintenance charges that they may not have previously had to pay.

Ways to avoid these fees include:
- Open a teen, student, graduate or advantage account (66+)
- Open a basic account if you qualify.
- Have your AIB mortgage go to your AIB current account.
- Switch to Revolut, N26, Monese, KBC Extra current account and comply with the fee thresholds for free banking.
- Switch to an EBS current account but put up with their lack of an app, poor online banking and no mobile payments.
- Combo EBS with Revolut, N26 or Monese.

callaway92

I think this is their backlash against the amount of custom they've lost to a Revolut type product for FXs etc.

Trying to make money elsewhere.

Nigel Fairservice

van_beano wrote: »

Same as Ulster Bank last year, I moved to KBC. Free banking once €2k is lodged per month. No issues so far over the year I've been with them. The whole cashless bank set-up is annoying if you want to lodge cash, I don't have much cash so doesn't bother me :rolleyes:

I did the same myself. The cashless thing is a bit annoying alrite. If I need to do anything with cash I do it at my credit union and then transfer it to my KBC account through the credit union app.

GerardKeating

callaway92 wrote: »

Trying to make money elsewhere.

It that not the objective of any business.

Banks are a business, they need to make a profit..

BobMc

virginmediapls wrote: »

I have been an AIB customer since birth. My parents opened an account in my name. I am going to close my account as I find this change abhorrent and unacceptable - https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/aib-to-charge-fees-for-contactless-payments-and-current-accounts-39031416.html .

Especially announcing it in the current climate, hoping it will go under the radar. I am planning to change bank ASAP.

What are the best alternatives? I currently have a current a/c and savings a/c and am mortgage approved by AIB but happy enough to cancel that and go elsewhere as their rates are ****e anyway.

Thanks

If you do draw mortgage from AIB and pay from AIB current account you get free fees unless they are changing that too

JamesBond2010

SmallTeapot wrote: »

This. I’m an AIB customer, but transfer money to my Revolut card and use it for daily contactless payments. I also have an N26 account but don’t use it as much as Revolut. N26 is a fully operating bank that has zero fees.

hearing a lot of bad things though about revolut though like customer service and closing a/c's for no reason. is there a limit you can transfer to your a/c /top up your a/c by each month?? i am Aib also.

conteplating between revolut and N26 now.

KaneToad

Irish_peppa wrote: »

What is the story with google pay? Is that like paypal? Whats the advantages. I saw a girl using her phone to pay in lidl holding it up to the Card machine seemed a bit awkward

No PIN required. You can tap for amounts greater than €30. I use it all the time.

Varik

Already have revolut and never really use cash, so the €200 monthly limit would usually be doable. The very odd time I'd need a lot I could manage.

Is there any fees on the saving account if you just kept them open for now.

NIMAN

Aren't Credit Union's entering the current account business?

Fireball81

callaway92 wrote: »

I think this is their backlash against the amount of custom they've lost to a Revolut type product for FXs etc.

Trying to make money elsewhere.

In fairness the amount of business the legacy banks have lost to the likes of N26 and Revolute is negligible. Customers here might like to give out but **** all will actually do something about it and switch (thecstats back that up).

Current accounts don't make banks any money anyway, lending and insurance is where the coin is from a retail banking perspective.

If AIB lost a few thousand customers over this I'd be very suprised.

People should absolutely move though - others may not bother buy why pay when you don't have to.

Fireball81

NIMAN wrote: »

Aren't Credit Union's entering the current account business?

Seen a few Facebook ads about, haven't clicked on them though. Think there are still fees though.

Legacy banks and the credit unions have too much baggage and outdated infrastructure to offer free banking like N26 and Revolute.

One day AIB and BOI may offer an account that is 100% free with no minimums etc if you elect not to touch a branch (HSBC do one in the UK), at the moment their systems just can't cope with that concept.

Wuff Wuff

NIMAN wrote: »

Aren't Credit Union's entering the current account business?

they are... and are charging for it €4 a month plus serivce charges

Fees & Charges

callaway92

GerardKeating wrote: »

It that not the objective of any business.

Banks are a business, they need to make a profit..

Well....yes. I didn't say it wasn't.

I literally didn't say there's anything wrong with it.

I was explaining why they've done it. Lost revenue elsewhere etc.

callaway92

Fireball81 wrote: »

In fairness the amount of business the legacy banks have lost to the likes of N26 and Revolute is negligible.

It certainly isn't negligible.

Foreign Exchange conversions have drastically gone down for Sterling/Dollar (trips the UK and the US) that banks are holding far less now since there's no need for them near as much as they used to have.

Marcusm

landofthetree wrote: »

https://www.ebs.ie/daily-banking/ebs-moneymanager-account-and-debit-card

EBS money manager.

But I hear its not great at the app/online stuff.

It would be interesting if AIB customers could avoid the charges through moving to an AIB sub. I doubt the position would last.

Amouar

I think that the time for me to move out from AIB has come. I use my AIB debit card a lot in topping up Revolut and each top up will now cost 20c. This on top of the quarterly maintenance fee of 4.5€ (18€ per year).

I already have an N26 account that I was not using much, but I guess time has now come to make N26 my primary bank account and use N26 card to top up my Revolut account for free.

JamesBond2010

Amouar wrote: »

I think that the time for me to move out from AIB has come. I use my AIB debit card a lot in topping up Revolut and each top up will now cost 20c. This on top of the quarterly maintenance fee of 4.5€ (18€ per year).

I already have an N26 account that I was not using much, but I guess time has now come to make N26 my primary bank account and use N26 card to top up my Revolut account for free.

how do u top it up by ?? i just started today i using aib.c.card on g pay to top it up.

Amouar

JamesBond2010 wrote: »

how do u top it up by ?? i just started today i using aib.c.card on g pay to top it up.

I added my AIB debit card to my Revolut account.

Fireball81

callaway92 wrote: »

It certainly isn't negligible.

Foreign Exchange conversions have drastically gone down for Sterling/Dollar (trips the UK and the US) that banks are holding far less now since there's no need for them near as much as they used to have.

Do you have stats showing people have suddenly started switching?

That's not the reason for that either - ****ty small transactions are just not with their while. There's also more competition and the use of prepaid, debit and credit cards for key consumer currencies.

Retail banks are not interested in Joe soap rocking up to sell a few hundred euros for dollars, pounds or whatever. They got out of the retail bureaux de change service years ago for that very reason.

antimatterx

The thing is, AIB is miles ahead of every other bank when it comes to their technology. Seamless contactless payments integration, brilliant website and app, and they were the first (and only?) Irish bank to release their API.

Fireball81

antimatterx wrote: »

The thing is, AIB is miles ahead of every other bank when it comes to their technology. Seamless contactless payments integration, brilliant website and app, and they were the first (and only?) Irish bank to release their API.

Really, do you mean other Irish legacy banks? They might be good but they're doing nothing outstanding compared to other banks in Europe or even in comparative markets (New Zealand for example that has a similar population base).

As for APIs - at this point I don't think the majority of retail customers here care about these (yet).

otterj

Get €15 when you use the code [MOD SNIP] when you sign up to the fee free bank n26