social welfare payments

davie01

I sent this to dept soc welfare & TD.


I understand from my local post office that you are
transferring payment through the banking system.
I find this tatoally unfair. I am on invalidity pension
and it means that I have to go into town to recieve payment
20 minutes walk. Currently 5 min to local post office.
Also banking is not FOC.
who pays quartly fees, who pays for transaction.
Also I understand that the first payment is not paid into the bank.
It seems to me the gap between rich and poor is getting bigger.

I cannot afford these payment.

Chalk

you can access an aib account thru the post office,
not sure about the payments tho.

billy the squid

I don't think that you HAVE to do this, it is just an option that they would prefer you to pick.

AIB are the embodiment of satan they will rob you blind if you sign up with them.

If you feel you must set up a bank account, then go with the ulster bank dual account. you can use the AIB hole-in-the-wall at no extra cost.

incedentily there was a feature on liveline last week where people who changed over to bank from pension book were missing a weeks payment.

FranknFurter

Just dont use TSB, I do and boy do they suck, if it were'nt for all the standing orders an dd's set up i'd change in a heartbeat.

And yeah, the switch is a pain for some, but not for the majority as there is usually an ATM closer than a post-office.

billy the squid

I know it is sort of a side issue on this but I pitty the elderly in all of this. not being familiar to bank machines and veing vulnerable to robbery. alot of elderly don't even have bank accounts and you need this bit of ID and that bit of ID to open one nowadays thank you very much ansbacher fraudsters.

your best bet is to visit the citezens information service. I would have suggested the department of social welfare, but they will be forcing the transfer down your throat, to the best of my knowledge, you can stick with the post office, but there are cutbacks taking place ehre too, so it is uncertain how long more the small post office will be near you.

Having the bank set up dues have its advantages though. you can pay your bills through internet and telephone banking, and you can check your bills online through billpay.ie but this is of little use to those who are not technology savy.

Im currently have an ulster bank dual account and am able to do all this through telephone and internet banking, even my annual boards.ie subscription is automatic now, and they havent asked me for a red cent.

stay as far as possible away from AIB though, you might think that being able to use your AIB card in the post office might be a good thing, but you will pay through the nose for it.

the dual account card will work on AIB bank of ireland TSB Ulster Bank and National Irish Bank machines, and you wont have to pay a penny for using other banks machines.

but that is if you want to transfer over to a bank, I probably would, but I dont like the way it is being rammed down people's throats by the department os social welfare.

K2

Brennan reassures over welfare collection

29 March 2005 16:44

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Séamus Brennan, has said he wants to reassure social welfare recipients that they will be able to continue to collect their payments from post offices....He said a comprehensive review of payment methods was taking place to ensure that post offices can meet the needs of customers. However, he said people would not be forced to collect their benefits elsewhere.

from rte.ie

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Davie01, looks like you should be able to stay with the post office.

The_Conductor

davie01 wrote:

I sent this to dept soc welfare & TD.


I understand from my local post office that you are
transferring payment through the banking system.
I find this tatoally unfair. I am on invalidity pension
and it means that I have to go into town to recieve payment
20 minutes walk. Currently 5 min to local post office.
Also banking is not FOC.
who pays quartly fees, who pays for transaction.
Also I understand that the first payment is not paid into the bank.
It seems to me the gap between rich and poor is getting bigger.

I cannot afford these payment.

Hmm- you might be interested to know, that the biggest outcry against this proposal, is in fact from the postmasters- as apparently on average 40% of their income comes from processing social welfare entitlements.

If a system existed whereby these payments were made directly into bankaccounts and no charges were applied (or perhaps the current money being spent on "processing" these charges rediverted into paying bank charges for social welfare recipients) would you then be in favour of this proposal?

I know that going to the postoffice can be as much a regular social occasion as much as a chance to withdraw money for people. What I would be thinking is were money paid directly into bank accounts, and people properly motivated to use electronic payments and credit cards (abolishing the é40 annual charges would be a step in the right direction)- surely people's security would be enhanced, because they would no longer be carrying large sums in cash?

If the financial cost of the proposal is the main factor that you see it as unviable- perhaps a set of suggestions to the policy section in DSFA might not go astray? Civil servants are only human after all- and don't bite!

billy the squid

the €40 stamp duty only applies to credit cards afaik, the stamp duty for ATM cards is either €10 or €12.70 I'm not sure.

the problem I would have with getting old people to use ATMs would be that a large proportion of the elderly would have either dexterity or eyesight problems that would inhibit their ability to use ATM machines.

If the banks were to allow pensioners to collect their money at the cash desk without slapping on an extra charge, this might aleviate some of the concerns.

But the banks are not subsidised by the government, the market decides whether or not a local branch stays open.