Bank refuses to set up direct debit on foreign Eurozone account

murphaph

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I don't really know what my options are here. Perhaps I have none.

Ulster Bank are flatly refusing to set up a mortgage payment direct debit (SEPA DD) on a German account, stating that "we can only set up direct debits with bank details from a bank in the RoI". What the hell is the point of SEPA if banks can simply refuse to do this?

Do I have grounds for complaint to a higher authority here? I have had no trouble with my other direct debits being switched to this German account. I want to close my BoI account and this is the only remaining DD that is preventing me from doing so. I am wary of cancelling the DD and moving to standing order as I like the certainty that the correct payment will be drawn when interest rates change. Why do the have to be so awkward. AIB etc. had no problem setting up SEPA DDs on this account!
 
SEPA isn't fully live until August. After that they will have to accept your Foreign details but before then they don't have to. Though I would have thought all banks would be able to handle this by now.

SEPA in Ireland does also has some extra requirements when setting up transfers from foreign accounts including needing a written mandate rather than allowing signing up over the phone or over the Internet. It could be the person you spoke to at Ulster Bank has only been informed of half of this fact and is not aware how to handle a foreign account.
 
Hmmm, I sent them a completed SEPA mandate and they sent it back with a 1 line "incorrect account details" explanation (even though they were correct) and included a domestic direct debit mandate (no use obviously) so I printed off the SEPA mandate, filled it in with same details and sent it in again and asked in a cover letter for more detail if there was a problem and they responded with the "only RoI accounts" line (why couldn't they have done that the first time?).

They are ALREADY taking the money each month from my BoI account via a SEPA DD (they switched in February) so there's absolutely no good reason for them not to set up a SEPA DD on a foreign account-same payment instructions, just a different BIC/IBAN.

From their own website it says "Under the SEPA Direct Debit* scheme, you the consumer have the right to:

Use your bank account to pay a Direct Debit in any SEPA country."

...so much for that!

http://www.ulsterbank.com/roi/personal/advice-tools/sepa/sepa-personal.ashx
 
The DD aspect of SEPA is live now.

Make a complain. Escalate this. Don't let Ulster Bank away with breaking the whole purpose to SEPA.
 
I got the "we can only set up direct debits with bank details from a bank in the RoI" line from several businesses recently when I tried to swap my DD to my German bank account.

I usually went back with a polite letter telling them they already use SEPA (as evident in my PTSB account) and that I might withdraw my business if they don't set up what I require.

It usually worked, the only two problems are AnPost TV license which wanted a bank account statement to validate the account (and that I have the funds to pay) so I went and paid the full amount instead of DD and Tesco who have set up a DD and say they deduct the money and credit it to my Tesco card but the money never comes out of my account.

Otherwise it all worked with the noted exception that for some reason DD from non irish accounts require a written mandate (with the exception of UPC funny enough).

I would complain to Ulster again, did you go into a branch to talk to a "manager"?
 
I've been doing it all in writing (to their central mortgage operations, who should be up to speed on SEPA) to have a record of correspondence. Can I request a "final response letter" from them and go to the ombudsman if they continue to fob me off?

I find it galling that a bank of all things would be either so clueless of or resistant to the changes SEPA mean for the consumer.

@DublinTexas: did you have any companies who flatly refused to change and wouldn't relent?
 
I had one that was not willing to do it even after complaining but the minute I called in and gave as reason for my cancellation that they would not do SEPA DD they suddenly had updated their system. Miracle.

Good Luck in getting your bank to do what you want.
 
If they persist in fobbing you off you can request a final response letter. That might cause them to relent.
 
I found this on the [broken link removed] (my highlighting) - I wonder if it's possible to get in touch with the EPC? There is also a document on that site outlining how SEPA was to be implemented.
The European Payments Council (EPC) – an alliance of European banking/payments industry representative bodies – was established in 2002 to deliver SEPA. The EPC’s constitution gives it decision-making status on behalf of its payments industry members.

The EPC draws its representation from the three categories of banks in Europe – commercial banks, savings banks and co-operative banks. In Ireland, only those banks active in the retail payment system are represented. These are AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank, National Irish Bank and BNP Paribas. The EPC has a number of working and support groups, the work of which is guided by a Co-ordination Committee; in addition, the EPC Plenary meets four times each year.
 
What specific Irish law is Ulster Bank breaking here?

None. Until SEPA is fully mandated from 1st August.

It could be a grand conspiracy against the OP. Or it could be just that Ulster Bank's inter a systems and processes have not been set up yet for SEPA (which is why the extension until August was given!). First issue makes a more interesting story though...
 
It could be a grand conspiracy against the OP.
Could be....but...
Or it could be just that Ulster Bank's inter a systems and processes have not been set up yet for SEPA (which is why the extension until August was given!).
As he explained in his post, they are set up for SEPA, as evidenced by the fact that other transactions are being handled that way already.
 
Bazza could still be right. It's possible (for example) that some clown has incorrectly specified the interface for their system which the clerk uses to input the IBAN from the paper mandate. They may have a hard coded "IE" prefix on the IBAN field and possibly some validation that ensures the rest of the IBAN is is the "correct Irish length", thus preventing the bank clerk from entering what's on the mandate.

The thing is...this is a bank. Of all the companies the public could have expected to be fully SEPA ready by now, surely the banks themselves would be top of the list.

(Btw, it's obviously not a conspiracy against me. It's most likely incompetence at some level in the bank, that's all)
 
The deadine might have been extended until the 1st of August but there is no way that Ulster Bank is not SEPA DD compliant already. The deadline was extended because companies were not ready. It sounds like Ulster Bank might need a bit of staff training. (Unless they are in the very embarassing position of advising companies on how to handle to SEPA DD's and didn't do it themselves).
 
What law will they be breaking on the 1st of August if they persist?

This law: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:094:0022:0037:En:PDF

Basically being part of European Union will soon mean we have a single payments area and so German banks need to be treated same as Irish banks in terms of being accepted for payments (with slight changes such as enforcing paper mandates). Doesn't mean any company needs to accept DDs - just that if they do they have to accept ALL European DDs.

And btw I agree with all the other comments. Ulster Bank SHOULD be ready and the fact they are a bank and claim not to be is pretty poor. Possibly they are as to take this and it's a training issue (in which case you could argue they aren't ready). I'm just pointing out they don't have to be yet and those that claim they should raise legal or ombudsman arguments are wrong. For now.
 
But that's not an irish law, right? 260/2012 must be transposed into national legislation in all the member states. Is S.I. No. 383 of 2009 mentioned above thread, the transposition in the case of Ireland? If so, what actual paragraph compels (or will compel) a bank to set up a SEPA DD drawn on a a foreign account?
 
I'm not a legal expert and wouldn't suggest you quote paragraphs as a way of forcing Ulster Bank to allow your payment, but here's some more info you you if you really want to know:


[broken link removed]
 
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