Anyone else been hit with an Overdraft Facility Fee at BoI?

leck · 28-07-2014 08:35PM #1

When checking my Bank of Ireland account online about a month ago, I noticed a €30 charge labelled "O/DRAFT FACILITY FEE." I questioned this at my local branch and was told that I had an overdraft facility on my account and so was liable for a €30 annually. I said this was the first that I heard of it and that I never remembered signing up for this and had no need for it. She said I paid the charge last year too. Ok, checked my online statements and see I was charged last year too but somehow overlooked it. I asked if charge could be reversed. Was told it could be requested but would be at the discretion of someone else.

That conversation was two weeks ago. Didn't hear from bank since then and charge was not reversed.

Had occasion to visit the bank again today on another matter. I brought up the subject of the overdraft fee again. I was told that the overdraft facility (think that's what they called it) was added to my account over 30 years ago! But they started to charge an annual fee last year. I asked if customers were informed of this and the answer was along the lines of "we don't have time or resources to do that with every customer." I asked how was I supposed to know either that I had a long-forgotten and (I think) never-used overdraft facility and was told that BoI put notices in the papers and on the radio about these fees. That wasn't going to help me much as I'd been out of the country for 20 years. I again asked if the fee could be reversed. Was given a "we'll see and be in touch."

P. Breathnach · 28-07-2014 08:53PM

It happened to me some time ago. I had not overdrawn for well over a decade and presumed that the facility I had many years ago had been discontinued.

I was furious at what I saw as sharp practice, and challenged the fee vigorously (I did stop short of being abusive, but the staff knew I was very annoyed and would be willing to pursue the matter). The charge was reversed.

moc moc a moc · 28-07-2014 09:03PM

BoI have an official 'Talk To' forum here. I'd be interested in hearing what they have to say about this.

leck · 28-07-2014 09:41PM

moc moc a moc wrote: »

BoI have an official 'Talk To' forum here. I'd be interested in hearing what they have to say about this.

I saw the BOI Talk To Forum. The few post that I looked at seems to be just have carefully-crafted PR-type responses which usually end with asking the customer to contact the bank directly.

I reckon there must be lots of people like me that had an overdraft facility added in the 70s or 80s and now suddenly these charges appear out of the blue. I wonder how the bank would respond if I demanded to see some proof that I had signed up for an overdraft. I bet they wouldn't be able to produce any documentation.

I'm guessing that for every customer who complains about this practice, there are dozens of other who either don't notice the charge or are too lazy to do anything about it.

allthedoyles · 28-07-2014 09:44PM

As far as I know , I have been paying this for years , but I thought it was €25 a year

coylemj · 28-07-2014 10:31PM

+1 I set up an overdraft facility many years ago to help someone out with cash they needed in a hurry, it was quicker than arranging a new loan at the time. The friend paid me off as agreed but year after year the BoI charged me €25 annually for the facility, I eventually asked them to remove it as with the original scheme of no bank charges if you remained in credit, I had never gone into the red in several years so didn't need an overdraft facility.

I suspect that their justification for the charge is that once a year some official reviews the facility to see if they should leave it in place.

In turn you'd expect that if you never used the facility in the past 12 months, they should waive the charge and/or ask you if the facility should be removed.

leck · 28-07-2014 10:54PM

coylemj wrote: »

+1 I set up an overdraft facility many years ago to help someone out with cash they needed in a hurry, it was quicker than arranging a new loan at the time. The friend paid me off as agreed but year after year the BoI charged me €25 annually for the facility, I eventually asked them to remove it as with the original scheme of no bank charges if you remained in credit, I had never gone into the red in several years so didn't need an overdraft facility.

I suspect that their justification for the charge is that once a year some official reviews the facility to see if they should leave it in place.

In turn you'd expect that if you never used the facility in the past 12 months, they should waive the charge and/or ask you if the facility should be removed.

12 months! I'm pretty sure that I didn't use the facility in 30 years. I certainly did not use in the last 20 years - the account always had a couple of thousand euros in it and almost no transactions. I asked why the account was not reviewed and was told they don't have time for that.

Did you pay €25 annually for a number of years or are you saying that you weren't charged as long as you had a balance over a certain amount? I only see charges on my account for 2013 and 2014. There was no overdraft fee charged in 2012 and that's as far back as I can see online statements. I have scans of older statements going back a number of years, but on a hard drive somewhere under a load of boxes. But that's probably only for about 10 years.

coylemj · 28-07-2014 11:25PM

leck wrote: »

Did you pay €25 annually for a number of years or are you saying that you weren't charged as long as you had a balance over a certain amount?

Yes (to the first question), the same €25 charge was levied in Feb. every year regardless of whether I used the overdraft facility or not. I know I didn't use it because they introduced free banking if you stayed in the black (>0) which made me micromanage my account instead of allowing it to drift in and out of the red.

Bank of Ireland: Nicola · 29-07-2014 01:37PM

leck wrote: »

When checking my Bank of Ireland account online about a month ago, I noticed a €30 charge labelled "O/DRAFT FACILITY FEE." I questioned this at my local branch and was told that I had an overdraft facility on my account and so was liable for a €30 annually. I said this was the first that I heard of it and that I never remembered signing up for this and had no need for it. She said I paid the charge last year too. Ok, checked my online statements and see I was charged last year too but somehow overlooked it. I asked if charge could be reversed. Was told it could be requested but would be at the discretion of someone else.

That conversation was two weeks ago. Didn't hear from bank since then and charge was not reversed.

Had occasion to visit the bank again today on another matter. I brought up the subject of the overdraft fee again. I was told that the overdraft facility (think that's what they called it) was added to my account over 30 years ago! But they started to charge an annual fee last year. I asked if customers were informed of this and the answer was along the lines of "we don't have time or resources to do that with every customer." I asked how was I supposed to know either that I had a long-forgotten and (I think) never-used overdraft facility and was told that BoI put notices in the papers and on the radio about these fees. That wasn't going to help me much as I'd been out of the country for 20 years. I again asked if the fee could be reversed. Was given a "we'll see and be in touch."

Hi Leck,

Thanks for getting in touch on Boards.

There is an overdraft facility charge of €30.00 if you have a personal current account. The charge is normally applied at the time of negotiation and then on the renewal date (anniversary) of your overdraft facility.

Hopefully your branch will be able to help you resolve this matter, but if you need any assistance or would like me to arrange a call from your branch, please let me know.

Thanks

Nicola

leck · 29-07-2014 03:03PM

Bank of Ireland: Nicola wrote: »

leck wrote: »

When checking my Bank of Ireland account online about a month ago, I noticed a €30 charge labelled "O/DRAFT FACILITY FEE." I questioned this at my local branch and was told that I had an overdraft facility on my account and so was liable for a €30 annually. I said this was the first that I heard of it and that I never remembered signing up for this and had no need for it. She said I paid the charge last year too. Ok, checked my online statements and see I was charged last year too but somehow overlooked it. I asked if charge could be reversed. Was told it could be requested but would be at the discretion of someone else.

That conversation was two weeks ago. Didn't hear from bank since then and charge was not reversed.

Had occasion to visit the bank again today on another matter. I brought up the subject of the overdraft fee again. I was told that the overdraft facility (think that's what they called it) was added to my account over 30 years ago! But they started to charge an annual fee last year. I asked if customers were informed of this and the answer was along the lines of "we don't have time or resources to do that with every customer." I asked how was I supposed to know either that I had a long-forgotten and (I think) never-used overdraft facility and was told that BoI put notices in the papers and on the radio about these fees. That wasn't going to help me much as I'd been out of the country for 20 years. I again asked if the fee could be reversed. Was given a "we'll see and be in touch."

Hi Leck,

Thanks for getting in touch on Boards.

There is an overdraft facility charge of €30.00 if you have a personal current account. The charge is normally applied at the time of negotiation and then on the renewal date (anniversary) of your overdraft facility.

Hopefully your branch will be able to help you resolve this matter, but if you need any assistance or would like me to arrange a call from your branch, please let me know.

Thanks

Nicola

Nicola, is the "time of negotiation" that time over 30 years ago when I might have requested an overdraft - I don't remember but then it was so long ago? I certainly have not used it in at least the last 20 years.

Then you say the charge is applied on the renewal date - is this annually on the same date as the original overdraft was requested. Does the bank review the account at the time and ask the customer if they still want an overdraft? I have no memory of ever signing anything to do with an overdraft and I certainly wasn't asked annually whether I still wanted an overdraft.

According to Overdraft Terms and Conditions:

6.5
The Bank may alter the charges applicable to the Facility and the Bank may introduce new charges at its discretion at any time (subject to notification to the relevant regulatory authority).The Bank will notify you of any such changes or new charges in advance.

But when this overdraft facility fee was introduced in 2013 I was not informed about it.

I spoke to someone at my local branch again today. I was told that "as a concession" I would be refunded the most recent €30 charged to my account. It was made to sound as though they were doing me a big favour. Then I really got mad and was finally told that they would refund €60.

Bank of Ireland: Sarah · 29-07-2014 03:28PM

Hi leck,

Thanks for your post.

We're sorry to hear that you had not heard of this fee previously. The overdraft will continue on your account unless you request to remove it. Please contact your branch if you don't feel you need an overdraft and they will be able to remove it for you. The Overdraft facility fee is applied each year on the anniversary that it was applied.

Please let us know if you need help with any other query.

Thanks,
Sarah

leck · 29-07-2014 04:53PM

Bank of Ireland: Sarah wrote: »

Hi leck,

Thanks for your post.

We're sorry to hear that you had not heard of this fee previously. The overdraft will continue on your account unless you request to remove it. Please contact your branch if you don't feel you need an overdraft and they will be able to remove it for you. The Overdraft facility fee is applied each year on the anniversary that it was applied.

Please let us know if you need help with any other query.

Thanks,
Sarah

Am I correct that the Overdraft Facility Fee was just introduced in 2013? How were customers informed about this fee at that time?

Bank of Ireland: Elaine · 30-07-2014 09:49AM

Hi leck,

Thanks for coming back to us.

Overdraft fees have been in place for many years on accounts. The most recent change to the pricing and application of this fee came into effect on the 18th of February 2013. We notified all our customers of these changes by press notice on the 14th of December 2012. You can view this notice here.

For more information on this fee and its structure please see here on our website.

We hope this information is of benefit to you, and if we can assist you with anything else, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Thanks,
Elaine

leck · 30-07-2014 05:32PM

Bank of Ireland: Elaine wrote: »

Hi leck,

Thanks for coming back to us.

Overdraft fees have been in place for many years on accounts. The most recent change to the pricing and application of this fee came into effect on the 18th of February 2013. We notified all our customers of these changes by press notice on the 14th of December 2012. You can view this notice here.

For more information on this fee and its structure please see here on our website.

We hope this information is of benefit to you, and if we can assist you with anything else, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Thanks,
Elaine

A notice in the Irish press would be of little use to your many customers who live outside Ireland, as I did at that time. The notice says the fee went from €25 to €30. I wasn't paying any such fee prior to 2013 and no, I didn't have either a student, graduate or Golden Years account. Is it possible this charge was just applied across the board thinking that either most people would not notice or would be too lazy to do anything about it or wouldn't expend the considerable effort required to have it removed?

I see this as an unjustified charge for a service that I was not using. And the idea that you would regard a notice in an Irish newspaper as fulfilling your requirement to notify your customers of this charge is ludicrous.

Skatedude · 30-07-2014 08:28PM

I'm still confused, I have checked my BOI account which has almost never been used over the last few years as i get paid into aib now.
and there hasnt been on overdraft charge till 2013?

I havent even been into the branch in over 5 years so how was it requested?

And i was never notified of any change? do you send out a copy of the irish times to all your customers?

moc moc a moc · 30-07-2014 08:37PM

Bank of Ireland: Elaine wrote: »

We notified all our customers of these changes by press notice

This does not count as notifying your customers.

moc moc a moc · 30-07-2014 08:41PM

Bank of Ireland: Sarah wrote: »

Please contact your branch if you don't feel you need an overdraft and they will be able to remove it for you.

Please explain how we can do this through online banking. This is 2014, I'm not interested in phoning my specific branch and waiting on hold for half an hour for someone to get around to manually removing my overdraft service.

TireeTerror · 31-07-2014 08:47AM

I see I have had my post regarding the criminality of the Bank Of Ireland removed and I was warned for being uncivil. I do not believe I was uncivil at all. It is this censorship which confirms that even here at Boards, so long as BOI are paying for this section of the forum, we are not allowed to be overtly critical. It all seems a little bit dictatorial and I thought better of boards than this, I guess when it comes down to it you don't want to bite the hand that feeds you.

It is entirely unacceptable that a bank thinks it is ok to change fees and notify customers by an announcement in the press. That means we are obligated to buy newspapers now? Quite unbelievable and its quite clear this is a very deliberate ploy to ensure they meet the absolute minimum of customers while still complying with regulations. With most customers having email, it would not even cost them anything to send an email, and thats at the very least.

My advice would be to kick up the biggest amount of fuss you can, but make sure you do so in a branch to cause as much public awareness of the situation. It will also give the people in the bank something to do other than harassing you in the queue trying to get you to use the automated machine rather than deal with a person at the counter. These same people will be out of a job shortly as they are basically convincing people to not require them. Thankfully there are still some older people in the country who fear technology or don't know how to use it.

Of course the sneaky thing from BOI is that they start charging you even higher fees to use the teller, they are doing everything they can to extrapolate every last cent from us as customers.

There are websites such as bonkers.ie and uswitch.ie which can give great adivce on things. You can see from this guide that BOI are in fact the most expensive company to have a current account with.

http://www.bonkers.ie/compare-current-accounts/

This is why people in their droves are switching from them to Permanent TSB. That is not hearsay, I am dealing with SEPA details every single day and it usually causes a delay as people have to find their new PTSB account details as they have switched recently and cannot remember them.

Maybe boards.ie will delete this post as well, but I have been careful to ensure that I have not posted in an uncivil manner, and I sincerely hope that this post does not, as boards suggested to me by PM, cause other members distress. Even though this section of the site is sponsored by BOI, I would hope that my post is not deleted as this is still a community oriented site and I believe my post to be to the betterment of the community as a whole, albeit not a glowing report of the sponsors.

Boards.ie: Niamh · 31-07-2014 09:52AM

Your post is not being deleted, however you are being infracted for both questioning a Mod decision on-thread and posting off-topic. Any feedback about how the site is run is for the Feedback forum, not a banking forum.

Please read our Terms of Use before you post again.
/Mod

TireeTerror · 31-07-2014 05:10PM

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Your post is not being deleted, however you are being infracted for both questioning a Mod decision on-thread and posting off-topic. Any feedback about how the site is run is for the Feedback forum, not a banking forum.

Please read our Terms of Use before you post again.
/Mod

No problem Niamh. I was not aware that I was not allowed to have a difference of opinion regarding a moderators decision.

In the future I shall just keep my own opinions to myself purely on the basis that I would not wish for my account to be in jeopardy.

Back to BOI.

Bank of Ireland: Sarah · 01-08-2014 09:29AM

Skatedude wrote: »

I'm still confused, I have checked my BOI account which has almost never been used over the last few years as i get paid into aib now.
and there hasnt been on overdraft charge till 2013?

I havent even been into the branch in over 5 years so how was it requested?

And i was never notified of any change? do you send out a copy of the irish times to all your customers?

Hi Skatedude,

Thanks for your post.

To check when your overdraft was applied, please contact your branch and a lending advisor will be able to check this for you.
If you do not wish to keep your overdraft, your branch will also be able to remove it for you.

Thanks,
Sarah

Bank of Ireland: Elaine · 01-08-2014 10:26AM

Hi moc moc a moc,

Thanks for coming back to us.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to cancel an overdraft facility through 365 Online. If you have an Overdraft and wish to cancel it there are a couple of options available to you. You can call our Bank of Ireland Direct line on 1890 365 100 where a representative can cancel this over the phone for you alternatively, you can send a written instruction to your account holding branch to cancel this facility.

Address and contact details of your branch can be located here on our website.

Under our Terms and Condition, clause 17.2, we do advise that advance notice will be provided to customers upon any changes of fees and charges. We also specify how this communication will be provided. You can review these terms and conditions here.

We hope this helps clarify your queries and if we can assist you with anything else, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Thanks,
Elaine

leck · 01-08-2014 04:29PM

Bank of Ireland Rep/Niamh:

You give as one option to resolve this issue "You can call our Bank of Ireland Direct line on 1890 365 100 where a representative can cancel this over the phone for you". I tried that and it didn't work for me - I was told that I MUST either physically visit my local branch or write to them. I then visited the local branch twice and had a follow-up phone call with the branch. It was only then (after FOUR contacts with BoI) that the problem was resolved and I've finally been refunded for the fees that were improperly charged on my account. I'm lucky in that I now live close to the branch where I have my account. There are a number of your customers who live overseas who can't just drop into a local branch.

You still didn't answer the question of whether these charges were introduced for the first time in 2013?

Bank of Ireland: Elaine · 05-08-2014 08:31AM

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Hi leck, [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for coming back to us. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]We apologise if you were given mis guided instruction on how to cancel your overdraft facility and also that this was not cancelled upon your initial request. We can confirm it is now possible to cancel this service over the phone directly. Customers abroad can now avail of this option or alternatively, they can send a letter in writing to their branch. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]As mentioned previously, while there was a change to the pricing and application of this fee in February 2013, overdraft fees have been in place prior to this date. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]We hope this helps clarify your query and if we can help with anything else here, please don’t hesitate to contact us again. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Elaine [/font]

leck · 05-08-2014 10:13PM

Bank of Ireland: Elaine wrote: »

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Hi leck, [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for coming back to us. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]We apologise if you were given mis guided instruction on how to cancel your overdraft facility and also that this was not cancelled upon your initial request. We can confirm it is now possible to cancel this service over the phone directly. Customers abroad can now avail of this option or alternatively, they can send a letter in writing to their branch. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]As mentioned previously, while there was a change to the pricing and application of this fee in February 2013, overdraft fees have been in place prior to this date. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]We hope this helps clarify your query and if we can help with anything else here, please don’t hesitate to contact us again. [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Elaine [/font]hey

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]You say "while there was a change to the pricing and application of this fee in February 2013, overdraft fees have been in place prior to this date"[/font] - this is contrary to what I was told at the local branch. They told me that overdraft fees were only introduced in 2013. If that is not the case, why was did this charge appear out of the blue on my account in 2013? Skatedude posted above that he/she had the same experience. I'm inclined to think that BoI just applied this charge across the board to everyone figuring that most people wouldn't notice or complain about it. I certainly DID NOT request an overdraft in 2012 or 2013. I wasn't even living in Ireland then and had almost no transactions on the account.

Bank of Ireland: Elaine · 06-08-2014 08:40AM

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Hi leck, [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Previous to February 2013 an overdraft fee was not applied if the facility was used for less than 3 days of the year or if the amount overdrawn was less than E25. From February 2013 the annual overdraft fee was increased from E25 to E30 and is now applied to all facilities with permission greater than E50 whether or not the facility is used within the past 12 months.[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]This fee is applied upon set up, increase or anniversary for all applicable accounts. [/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]As we do not have account access here it is not possible for us to comment on the specific nature of how this charge was applied to your account. From your previous posts we understand that you have already discussed and resolved this specific situation with your branch directly. However, should you require any further assistance we would be happy to arrange a call back from your branch.[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]We would like to thank you for your feedback on this thread and we will ensure that your comments are forwarded to our branch network.[/font]

[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks once again,[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Elaine[/font]

Skatedude · 06-08-2014 02:08PM

K, talked to my branch and they confirmed that the over draft was first activated on my account in 2013. I mentioned to them that i didn't request it and that i haven't even used the account in years.

They said that someone must have requested it, but could not confirm how or who.

They did manage to pull up statements which confirmed that the account has not been used or that i have had any correspondence with them in the last few years, so still couldn't tell me how an overdraft was added without any correspondence with me?

On closer examination, i noticed that there was a boi charge of 30 euros which would have put it into the red. I asked about this and was told that it now made sense (his words, not mine) and that the overdraft would have been activated to cover the charge.
obviously not happy about it, so had to pay the boi charge and then the overdraft charge and promptly closed my account for good.

Bye Bye Boi

Bank of Ireland: Alison · 06-08-2014 03:03PM

Hi Skatedude

We're so sorry to hear you have closed your account with us as a result of these charges.

If we can help here, maybe by contacting Management within your branch, please do send us a PM with contact details and name of your branch. We understand if you may be reluctant to accept this offer as you mentioned account has already been closed.

This is not the level of customer service we expect each customer to receive from us. We do value all our customers and are disappointed to hear this today.

If you decide we can't be of help, we really do wish you all the best and again apologies for the recent experience.

Thanks
Alison

Anyone else been hit with an Overdraft Facility Fee at BoI?

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