Changing my Bank

CTU_Agent

Im thinking of changing my Bank. Having recently checked my bank statement ive found that since beginning of june to date BOI have charged me €103.00 in bank charges alone. Its astonishing. I cant continue paying charges like that!!..

Anyway anyone any recommendations for banks with low charges and good customer service and services in general?

How about the 'NO FEES' account from PTSB is this worthwhile?

JohnDigital

I saw in the Indo or Herald (cant rememeber) yesterday that National Irish Bank now have a no fees current account just like PTSB. Might be worth a look. From what I have experienced with other banks like AIB, BOI, Ulster, they all seem to cost around the same for bank charges. I ended up just moving all my accounts a few years ago to AIB and now just have a current account and savings account and I pay around €160 charges a year between the two accounts. I might think of moving myself if these free ones really are free.

midget lord

I use an Ulster bank U-First account as my current account. Details here.

Its €9 a month, but you easily recoup this in the discounts on restaurants & hotels. I stayed in the Adeplhi in liverpool for two nights last week, booked it through my ufirst account and it cost €254. The cheapest room when booking it directly are circa £150. They have recently changed the procedures for booking restaurants, where you book at ufirstrestaurants.com, claim your discount and eat for 25% less.

hussey

Do a search for ptsb on this forum, like every bank they have their ups and downs, but from what I have read they are mostly up.

They have gained a big increase from people like you (and me) who are sick to the teeth of AIB/BOI etc

there is another option (I that I use) - EBS. Completly free, but there is no laser card facility and you can only take money out of aib banklinks.

but this wouldn't suit all users

Sleipnir

LINK

Click on "cost surveys"

JohnDigital

According to one of the documents on the IFSRA website that Sleipnir linked to this is how the charges stack up for an average punter.

Victor

CTU_Agent wrote:

Having recently checked my bank statement ive found that since beginning of june to date BOI have charged me €103.00 in bank charges alone.

The you appear to be doing something "wrong" what were the charges for?

CTU_Agent

well between overspending and going over my o/d limit theres nothing else, the rest are quarterly charges and overdraft opening charges.

dcGT

I switched to PTSB from AIB a few months ago. Great service. I can do everything I did with AIB.There's nothing I'd miss moving from AIB (except the charges!)

DC.

Gegerty

dcGT wrote:

I switched to PTSB from AIB a few months ago. Great service. I can do everything I did with AIB.There's nothing I'd miss moving from AIB (except the charges!)

DC.

Is it true that you must have a minimum of €1,000 in your account at all time otherwise they charge you? If so, do they charge you forever if you go below €1,000 or only while you are below the €1,000 mark?

I'm very suspicious of "free" banking. Why would they do something for free unless there's a catch somewhere.

Edit: I just realised that by having to keep €1,000 in the bank I would effectively be paying 10 years worth of bank charges. My bank charges with BOI are about €100 a year. That's a pretty big catch if you ask me!

dcGT

Gegerty wrote:

Is it true that you must have a minimum of €1,000 in your account at all time otherwise they charge you? If so, do they charge you forever if you go below €1,000 or only while you are below the €1,000 mark?

I'm very suspicious of "free" banking. Why would they do something for free unless there's a catch somewhere.

Edit: I just realised that by having to keep €1,000 in the bank I would effectively be paying 10 years worth of bank charges. My bank charges with BOI are about €100 a year. That's a pretty big catch if you ask me!

I've never had €1000 balance and I've had free banking since I've been with them. I have never seen any literature which states that free banking is only for a year. I was also looking for the catches before I switched to them. I couldn't find anything really. Of course, there are charges if you over-draw, but I don't plan to have to do that!

DC.

BC

Gegerty wrote:

Is it true that you must have a minimum of €1,000 in your account at all time otherwise they charge you?

Nope its not true.
I've been with PTSB for 6 months and i haven't been charged anything.
They charge for being overdrawn and for cheques bouncing etc but they don't charge standard bank charges.

Gegerty

BC wrote:

Nope its not true.
I've been with PTSB for 6 months and i haven't been charged anything.
They charge for being overdrawn and for cheques bouncing etc but they don't charge standard bank charges.

It seems you're right, a little bit of googling and I found this:

http://www.unison.ie/business/personalfinance/stories.php?ca=257&si=1339276

Why some 'free' current accounts turn out to be more free than others

PERMANENT tsb and National Irish Bank apparently come out at a nil-all draw as the cheapest banks in the latest IFSRA survey on current account costs.

Neither charges transaction fees, which could cost a typical customer up to €112 a year elsewhere.

However, the big difference not factored into the hypothetical IFSRA bank customer's life is an overdraft. Many could not live without it.

Permanent tsb allows overdrafts to users of its new, free 'Switch' account, whereas NIB 'Freebank' customers cannot overdraw.

If they do, they pay a €5 quarterly fee plus transaction costs ranging from 23c for an ATM withdrawal to 34c for writing a cheque.

Some free banking customers are more free than others.

Permanent tsb's Switch account, introduced opportunistically on January 31 to take advantage of changes to make it easier for consumers to switch bank, is unique.

To date, 'free' accounts at both permanent tsb and other banks were only for certain types of customer (those with minimum balances, mortgage holders, students/the elderly) or they excluded charges for overdrafts/direct debits.

NIB offers all that permanent tsb does except for the overdraft. NIB also penalises customers more heavily for bounced payments and stopped payments.

Permanent tsb Switch customers pay fees only if they bounce cheques, request multiple statements, or use their ATM cards outside of Europe.

In that case, foreign banks pass charges on to permanent tsb. Niall O'Grady, head of marketing at ptsb, says: "If you're operating your current account within the normal parameters, there'll be no charge." He notes that ptsb, like other banks, applies an annual overdraft renewal fee.

Neither permanent tsb nor NIB are charging customers for cheques, according to the IFSRA survey, although banks must pay 15c per cheque in stamp duty to the Exchequer.

Other charges not factored into IFSRA's annual cost count include bank cards, on which customers pay duty of €40 for a credit card and €10 for an ATM card plus €10 for a separate Laser card - or €20 for a dual-function debit card.

Interestingly, IFSRA suggests: "If you are thinking of switching accounts, check whether your new bank may be willing to pay this stamp duty charge on your behalf."

Ulster did, uniquely, in the past, for certain high-end customers, but now that the competition is hotting up, it seems others may follow suit.

IFSRA estimated that a hypothetical customer - not necessarily average - would have the following annual costs by banking at different banks: €80.90 with AIB; €85.96 ('Pay As You Go') or €45.60 (flat rate) with Bank of Ireland; zero (Freebank) or €7.40 (standard) with NIB; zero with tsb Switch account; and €66.90 ('current account') or €112 ('U First') with Ulster Bank.

It should be noted that the U First account includes free multi-trip annual travel insurance and other perks, including discounted loan rates from the bank.

IFSRA's hypothetical customer did not use the same basket of charges as previous Irish Bankers Federation surveys suggested were typical. IFSRA presumed greater ATM use and less cheque use than had IBF.

The latest IFSRA cost result is based on data supplied by the banks as of the end of January. It is not the first to give consumers the 'bottom line' on their annual banking costs. Its previous survey last June also provided profiles of likely customers, making it much easier for consumers to relate the plethora of banks' individual prices to their lives.