KBC exiting Ireland

PHG

Have everything with KBC when moved from UB 2 years ago.

Also have an N26 that I don't use so will probably move my salary and DDs to there.

What are the options for credit card? I have nothing on it, have it as a just in case.

Thanks,

PHG

garrettod

The CCPC do a comparison across the various cards - take a look here :

https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/money-tools/credit-card-comparisons/?gclid=CjwKCAjw7J6EBhBDEiwA5UUM2tq9dfKWRijXx2qDVJIxEL9JPxFvUYsICrfjHdf6aE0Rl6VUoBAnZBoCRvEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

jimmycrackcorm

PHG wrote: »

What are the options for credit card? I have nothing on it, have it as a just in case.

Thanks,

PHG

Run up a balance and then transfer to Avant to have interest free for 6 months.

Mastroianni

PHG wrote: »

Have everything with KBC when moved from UB 2 years ago.

Also have an N26 that I don't use so will probably move my salary and DDs to there.

What are the options for credit card? I have nothing on it, have it as a just in case.

Thanks,

PHG

did you get some issues or queries with your finance department about getting paid to N26?

Bob24

Mastroianni wrote: »

did you get some issues or queries with your finance department about getting paid to N26?

Asked to get paid on an N26 account 3 or 4 years ago, and no issues with my company.

I think the only problem will be if your company has a very old pay system which still requests Irish sort codes and account numbers. Technically it is illegal for them to refuse paying you to a German IBAN, but in practice if their system doesn’t support it they might just refuse and assume that as an employee it doesn’t make sense for you to initiate a conflict with your employer just for this.

Mastroianni

anyway I'm wondering: when KBC will close all its activity will we get a refund for the maintenance fees or any other kind of money back?

Yyhhuuu

If you open an N26 account, do you need to declare this as a foreign account on Form 11 / Income Tax return?

I think I will move to N26 when KBC exit Ireland. They seem to have a great app and there seems to be very little negatives for me as I don't deal in cash or cheques. I assume there is no problem transferring by EFT from a Bank of Ireland Savings Account on Banking 365 to N26, as I currently do to KBC Bank?

Smee_Again

Mastroianni wrote: »

anyway I'm wondering: when KBC will close all its activity will we get a refund for the maintenance fees or any other kind of money back?

No, don't see why anyone would.

The fees are all charged in arrears, aren't they? So you're only paying for the service received and not in anticipation of future service.

Sam W

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

If you open an N26 account, do you need to declare this as a foreign account on Form 11 / Income Tax return?

I think I will move to N26 when KBC exit Ireland. They seem to have a great app and there seems to be very little negatives for me as I don't deal in cash or cheques. I assume there is no problem transferring by EFT from a Bank of Ireland Savings Account on Banking 365 to N26, as I currently do to KBC Bank?

Foreign accounts mean you receive money for work outside of Ireland and usually will have a foreign address on your bank statement. As long as the money you received is for work you carried out in Ireland, a German bank account is identical to an Irish bank account.

The only issue(s) you may encounter is the transfer of direct debits and standing orders. You would have to inform the creditors and switch them manually one by one by yourself. Some creditors may also have a different account number to receive money from a foreign bank.

For example, AIB Credit Card has one account number for domestic transfers and one for foreign transfers. This means, if you have an AIB credit card and you currently pay your credit card by direct debit from KBC, you need to: (1) open N26 account, (2) cancel direct debit instruction in KBC, (3) cancel direct debit schedule in AIB, (4) ask AIB to set up a new direct debit schedule from N26, (5) sign forms etc and wait for up to a month for everything to be settled down.

In contrast, if you are switching from KBC to BOI for example, you don't need to do anything above. Just tell BOI your KBC account details. All of the above will be handled by BOI.

Mastroianni

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

If you open an N26 account, do you need to declare this as a foreign account on Form 11 / Income Tax return?

I think I will move to N26 when KBC exit Ireland. They seem to have a great app and there seems to be very little negatives for me as I don't deal in cash or cheques. I assume there is no problem transferring by EFT from a Bank of Ireland Savings Account on Banking 365 to N26, as I currently do to KBC Bank?

actually the question to ask to Revenue is if they will accept to credit sums to other IBANs instead of IE. I will ask this and I will let you know.
Anyway I'm a bit concerned: I'm a totally noob regarding banks and finance stuff. All my savings, I mean all the savings of my life are currently with KBC. Do you suggest to move all the pot to a digital bank or to open an account with a "real" bank in Ireland? Given that: I will leave the country, I won't apply for a loan nor a mortgages. What do you think is a good move?

Sam W

Mastroianni wrote: »

actually the question to ask to Revenue is if they will accept to credit sums to other IBANs instead of IE. I will ask this and I will let you know.
Anyway I'm a bit concerned: I'm a totally noob regarding banks and finance stuff. All my savings, I mean all the savings of my life are currently with KBC. Do you suggest to move all the pot to a digital bank or to open an account with a "real" bank in Ireland? Given that: I will leave the country, I won't apply for a loan nor a mortgages. What do you think is a good move?

The first 100K of your savings is always covered by deposit guarantee scheme, regardless of the bank. From there, it's all good will, although I can't see any bank collapsing all of sudden, be it an Irish bank or a German bank.

It really depends on how you want to use your account.

Will you have a cheque/draft to send or lodge occasionally? Even if it's only once a year, it's still a pain when you just can't do it. I got a cheque from my utility provider and from Revenue office in the last year, and I needed to send a bank draft to Department of Justice. They are just so old school.

Have you checked with your employer to see if they can send salary to a foreign bank in the SEPA zone? The law says they *must* be able to do that, but the reality is that many small businesses do not have a capable system, and they won't change unless you decide to see them in court.

Have you checked with all your direct debit creditors to see whether they can accept a foreign bank's funds? Same as above. They should but some just never bothered upgrading their system.

I would definitely have a physical Irish bank to handle all the regular stuff - direct debits, standing orders, receiving salary. From there, you can decide whether you want to transfer the remaining balance to N26 or Revolut if their banking system is nicer.

The J Stands for Jay

Mastroianni wrote: »

actually the question to ask to Revenue is if they will accept to credit sums to other IBANs instead of IE. I will ask this and I will let you know.

Anyway I'm a bit concerned: I'm a totally noob regarding banks and finance stuff. All my savings, I mean all the savings of my life are currently with KBC. Do you suggest to move all the pot to a digital bank or to open an account with a "real" bank in Ireland? Given that: I will leave the country, I won't apply for a loan nor a mortgages. What do you think is a good move?

Revenue have been paying refunds to my N26 account for a good few years now.

There's no need to have all your savings with one bank. I have them in a couple of different places. If you're leaving the country, there's be no need to have an Irish account (even if you're staying, you just need a SEPA area account).

The J Stands for Jay

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

your financial advisor would be screaming at you to get the money working in property

First thing to do is to get a new financial advisor.

Yyhhuuu

Mastroianni wrote: »

actually the question to ask to Revenue is if they will accept to credit sums to other IBANs instead of IE. I will ask this and I will let you know.
Anyway I'm a bit concerned: I'm a totally noob regarding banks and finance stuff. All my savings, I mean all the savings of my life are currently with KBC. Do you suggest to move all the pot to a digital bank or to open an account with a "real" bank in Ireland? Given that: I will leave the country, I won't apply for a loan nor a mortgages. What do you think is a good move?

I assume the Revenue Commissioners are in compliance with EU Law and will credit a German Iban, although Revenue usually DEBIT my accounts.

I personally would not " invest " the vast majority of my cash on deposit with N26 but An Post State Savings. Although I assume the deposits of N26 are guaranteed by the German Government up to €100,000 and the German state less likely to default?. Having said this I am only making assumptions and please seek independent advice.

If you're leaving the country could you open a Euro denominated account in the country you're moving to? I once had a Sterling account in the Republic of Ireland...

Yyhhuuu

Sam W wrote: »

The first 100K of your savings is always covered by deposit guarantee scheme, regardless of the bank. From there, it's all good will, although I can't see any bank collapsing all of sudden, be it an Irish bank or a German bank.

It really depends on how you want to use your account.

Will you have a cheque/draft to send or lodge occasionally? Even if it's only once a year, it's still a pain when you just can't do it. I got a cheque from my utility provider and from Revenue office in the last year, and I needed to send a bank draft to Department of Justice. They are just so old school.

Have you checked with your employer to see if they can send salary to a foreign bank in the SEPA zone? The law says they *must* be able to do that, but the reality is that many small businesses do not have a capable system, and they won't change unless you decide to see them in court.

Have you checked with all your direct debit creditors to see whether they can accept a foreign bank's funds? Same as above. They should but some just never bothered upgrading their system.

I would definitely have a physical Irish bank to handle all the regular stuff - direct debits, standing orders, receiving salary. From there, you can decide whether you want to transfer the remaining balance to N26 or Revolut if their banking system is nicer.

Why would you keep money with Revolut? It doesn't have a €100k deposit Guarantee...

Why wouldn't you use N26 for all direct debits,SOs, receiving EFTs like salary. It is a bank after all...?

Mastroianni

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

I assume the Revenue Commissioners are in compliance with EU Law and will credit a German Iban, although Revenue usually DEBIT my accounts.

I personally would not " invest " the vast majority of my cash on deposit with N26 but An Post State Savings. Although I assume the deposits of N26 are guaranteed by the German Government up to €100,000 and the German state less likely to default?. Having said this I am only making assumptions and please seek independent advice.

If you're leaving the country could you open a Euro denominated account in the country you're moving to? I once had a Sterling account in the Republic of Ireland...

actually this is a brilliant advise, in fact I was going to deposit with Post State savings of the country I'm going to (which is my home country). Regarding having or not an irish bank account this all depends on my employer if they allow me to send funds to a german iban bank because, as stated by someone else, I'm pretty sure their system are old (I'm working alongside the IT so I know it) but fingers crossed!

Sam W

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

Why would you keep money with Revolut? It doesn't have a €100k deposit Guarantee...

Why wouldn't you use N26 for all direct debits,SOs, receiving EFTs like salary. It is a bank after all...?

In no way am I going back to N26 or any kind of ebanks, for all the reasons that I have laid out in the last few pages…

Mastroianni

Sam W wrote: »

In no way am I going back to N26 or any kind of ebanks, for all the reasons that I have laid out in the last few pages…

but, honestly speaking, why you think a physical bank could give you more safety than an e-bank? If something happen will you put a bomb to some branch?
Apart that the classic banking is inexorably moving to e-banking, but your bad experience with N26 shouldn't change your opinion overall? And then, I read that anyway they have sorted your issues so once again, what is exactly the problem?
I'm just curious, there is no aggressive in my enquiry.

Sam W

Mastroianni wrote: »

but, honestly speaking, why you think a physical bank could give you more safety than an e-bank? If something happen will you put a bomb to some branch?
Apart that the classic banking is inexorably moving to e-banking, but your bad experience with N26 shouldn't change your opinion overall? And then, I read that anyway they have sorted your issues so once again, what is exactly the problem?
I'm just curious, there is no aggressive in my enquiry.

I wouldn’t consider taking hundreds of phone calls and sending dozens of letters to a German address and spending 3 months on a simple transfer issue as ‘sorted your issue’. With the number of transactions I have, this is a complete waste of time and energy for me.

If you take a deeper look at their banking infrastructure, they are no way near the concept of e-banking. All formal correspondences need to be initiated by letters. No complaint measures (other than sending a letter to the same customer services personnel). No payment tracing. No payment debugging system. No way to approve a ‘suspicious’ foreign transaction, unlike the Irish banks where a simple travel note will allow you to use your card without any issues.

The only thing they have is an app. That’s not what e-banking is about. Their infrastructure is as bad as Bank of Ireland’s old system.

These transfer issues happen from time to time when you have that number of transactions. I had always been able to sort them out with 1 single phone call when I was with AIB, KBC and Ulster previously, so I expected at least the same level of customer services, especially when I am paying
200 euro a year for their services.
Plus, their cards don’t work well half of the time abroad. Absolutely useless to me with that nice metal card.

Again as I mentioned, it’s a decent free bank if you don’t have any of the above to worry about. I just wouldn’t trust them again after all of that.

Hockney

Just submitted all the (much) documentation to switch my BoI mortgage to KBC before they shut up shop.

Scanned everything and sent via email which hopefully gets around them losing hard copies, if they can lose an email they're doing well.

Just got a reply saying the application has been sent off to the assessment team (got the verbal OK already) and it will take 10 working days to come back with an approval/rejection, but they're currently experiencing very high volumes of applications and it could take longer :eek::eek::eek:

Looks like alot of people making the same move, 2.25% is a decent rate and €3k cashback with legal fees under €1k is very attractive.

Mastroianni

Sam W wrote: »

I wouldn’t consider taking hundreds of phone calls and sending dozens of letters to a German address and spending 3 months on a simple transfer issue as ‘sorted your issue’. With the number of transactions I have, this is a complete waste of time and energy for me.

If you take a deeper look at their banking infrastructure, they are no way near the concept of e-banking. All formal correspondences need to be initiated by letters. No complaint measures (other than sending a letter to the same customer services personnel). No payment tracing. No payment debugging system. No way to approve a ‘suspicious’ foreign transaction, unlike the Irish banks where a simple travel note will allow you to use your card without any issues.

The only thing they have is an app. That’s not what e-banking is about. Their infrastructure is as bad as Bank of Ireland’s old system.

These transfer issues happen from time to time when you have that number of transactions. I had always been able to sort them out with 1 single phone call when I was with AIB, KBC and Ulster previously, so I expected at least the same level of customer services, especially when I am paying
200 euro a year for their services.
Plus, their cards don’t work well half of the time abroad. Absolutely useless to me with that nice metal card.

Again as I mentioned, it’s a decent free bank if you don’t have any of the above to worry about. I just wouldn’t trust them again after all of that.

ok, it seems you are an advanced user and definitely you need something different from a e-bank which operate, basically, as moneybox. But if I need just get my salary there? I mean, I have never ever done cheque, lodge, overdraft, just used direct debit. Would N26 be a good fit for me?

Sam W

Mastroianni wrote: »

ok, it seems you are an advanced user and definitely you need something different from a e-bank which operate, basically, as moneybox. But if I need just get my salary there? I mean, I have never ever done cheque, lodge, overdraft, just used direct debit. Would N26 be a good fit for me?

Yes. It is a safe bank. Just go for the free option. (And check with your employer and your direct debit creditors first to make sure that they have no problem with it.)

rodge123

Hockney wrote: »

Just submitted all the (much) documentation to switch my BoI mortgage to KBC before they shut up shop.

Scanned everything and sent via email which hopefully gets around them losing hard copies, if they can lose an email they're doing well.

Just got a reply saying the application has been sent off to the assessment team (got the verbal OK already) and it will take 10 working days to come back with an approval/rejection, but they're currently experiencing very high volumes of applications and it could take longer :eek::eek::eek:

Looks like alot of people making the same move, 2.25% is a decent rate and €3k cashback with legal fees under €1k is very attractive.

Make that 2.45% when it transfers to BOI and if they decide to not honour the 0.2% discount for having current account with them.

The J Stands for Jay

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

I assume the Revenue Commissioners are in compliance with EU Law and will credit a German Iban, although Revenue usually DEBIT my accounts.

I personally would not " invest " the vast majority of my cash on deposit with N26 but An Post State Savings. Although I assume the deposits of N26 are guaranteed by the German Government up to €100,000 and the German state less likely to default?. Having said this I am only making assumptions and please seek independent advice.

If you're leaving the country could you open a Euro denominated account in the country you're moving to? I once had a Sterling account in the Republic of Ireland...

Revenue are compliant, but if a government department isn't, the regulating body is likely to have more teeth than CCPC...

If you are going with State Savings, just be aware that they will only repay by cheque which could be a problem. I have a stake uncashed cheque from them here, and it looks like I'll have to open an AIB account to cash it (and another one when I get it) then close the account once they clear.

karlitob

Hi all

Our fixed rate ends with KBC next Jan. I presume that my T&C continues when the mortgage is bought by AIB and then I’ll have to revert to whatever rate they are charging.

Is it possible to ask KBC to end my current fixed rate for a few years longer to take advantage of the better rate?

Appreciate any insights. Thanks.

deisedevil

Hockney wrote: »

Just submitted all the (much) documentation to switch my BoI mortgage to KBC before they shut up shop.

Scanned everything and sent via email which hopefully gets around them losing hard copies, if they can lose an email they're doing well.

Just got a reply saying the application has been sent off to the assessment team (got the verbal OK already) and it will take 10 working days to come back with an approval/rejection, but they're currently experiencing very high volumes of applications and it could take longer :eek::eek::eek:

Looks like alot of people making the same move, 2.25% is a decent rate and €3k cashback with legal fees under €1k is very attractive.

They've had 2.25% with a long time now. I've had it two years. It's not something new?

Smee_Again

karlitob wrote: »

Hi all

Our fixed rate ends with KBC next Jan. I presume that my T&C continues when the mortgage is bought by AIB and then I’ll have to revert to whatever rate they are charging.

Is it possible to ask KBC to end my current fixed rate for a few years longer to take advantage of the better rate?

Appreciate any insights. Thanks.

It’s BOI but yeah, you’re current T&Cs will apply but there’s nothing stopping BOI altering the follow on rate.

You can end a fixed rate early but there’s may be a fee, the calculation of the fee is based on a set formula and with only 10 months or so left it could be very little. Once ended you can then fix for another x years.

spion1892

Smee_Again wrote: »

You can end a fixed rate early but there’s may be a fee, the calculation of the fee is based on a set formula and with only 10 months or so left it could be very little. Once ended you can then fix for another x years.

Spot on. Under EU law the amount they can charge if you break your fixed fee will depend on the interbank rate the bank was on the hook for when they issued your mortgage v the rate when you look to switch. These rates have generally reduced over time so unless your really unlucky on timing you probably won’t have any fee to pay.

Mastroianni

just got a feedback from my payroll admin, he said that it wouldn't be a problem send my salary to N26 but it might be a problem with Irish revenue because a German bank can be suspicious for money laundry, therefore it might be an issue...
honestly I don't see where the issue is since in my N26 account there is my PPSN...

Bob24

Mastroianni wrote: »

just got a feedback from my payroll admin, he said that it wouldn't be a problem send my salary to N26 but it might be a problem with Irish revenue because a German bank can be suspicious for money laundry, therefore it might be an issue...
honestly I don't see where the issue is since in my N26 account there is my PPSN...

Not an issue at all. Especially since tax has already been applied to the money your receive from your employer so you are clearly not trying to hide income from Revenue by getting paid on an N26 account.