BOI banking charges

J

jonny330

Registered User
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The other day I got my BOI bill showing the charges for the last quarter - it came to €70 - which is a little bit more than usual. What has this total so high is the fact that I always use my laser card/ ATM card, use a number of direct debits (bills, account transfers etc) and I recently opened a RaboDirect Account. To further piss me off the bank also charges me for having my weekly wages automatically put into my account! All of these charges cost 28c a go. In this particular quarter I never walked into a branch of BOI or rang them - everything I did was automated - but I still get this huge bill! Am I missing something here?! They have an advert everywhere claiming day to day banking for 13c a day but I'm averaging 54c a day!

I'd love to leave the bank but I have a nice agreed overdraft with them that I constantly use and don't get charged any interest on - something that another bank might not give me.

Does anybody know of a way of avoiding these excessive charges? I know that if you pay 3 bills with 365online and keep €500 in your account you get free banking but at the moment I can't avail of this - anyway it sounds rubbish to me.
 
jonny330 said:
Does anybody know of a way of avoiding these excessive charges? I know that if you pay 3 bills with 365online and keep €500 in your account you get free banking but at the moment I can't avail of this - anyway it sounds rubbish to me.
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Not quite right, this is from the AIB website:

Personal Current Account customers who hold an AIB Debit Card and are registered for AIB Phone & Internet Banking can automatically qualify for free maintenance and transaction banking on that account by completing the following transactions on the account:
  1. At least one purchase transaction using their AIB Debit Card each fee quarter
    AND
  2. At least one debit transaction using AIB Phone & Internet Banking in each fee quarter
 
BOI dont offer free banking. They would just like you to think they do. You'r ebetter off getting better control over your finances so that you dont need an overdraft and switching to another bank.
 
If your account is well operated and kept within agreed limit there is no reason another bank won't offer what your geting at the mo or better. Ulster bank, PTSB, NIB and AIB all have varying freebanking packages available why not pick up a phone and see what's on offer.
 
There are lots of banks offering transaction charges free banking - check out the current account cost survey on IFSRA's website.
 
If you make at least 3 payments online you should have free fees with BoI in the current fee quarter; your most recent charges are probably for the previous quarter. See Current account Best Buys. There's no need for a minimum balance.
 
Ring your BOI branch and query the bank charges. I have had numerous errors on my charges and they have always been refunded without quibble when I phoned about them. Allegedly BOI dropped charges back in May if you use their online service 3 times for payments. I rang to register for it and was told it would be automatic - no action required from me.
 
You're billed a quarter in arrears so check that youre comparing like with like. Surely going onto B365 and making three funds movements should be easy enough to do ? I find it very unusual to say the least that you have an overdraft you're not paying debit interest on if I understand you correctly ?
 
smmb said:
You're billed a quarter in arrears so check that youre comparing like with like. Surely going onto B365 and making three funds movements should be easy enough to do ? I find it very unusual to say the least that you have an overdraft you're not paying debit interest on if I understand you correctly ?
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I've had an overdraft with BOI for about 6 years now - at the moment I've an overdraft limit of €2900. My account is constantly in overdraft, I don't think it has ever been in a plus over the past 3 years and the balance is normally always around €2000 OD. I have never paid a cent in charges or interest in 6 years so I used it like a credit card and for transferring money to savings accounts.

I could never understand why I was paying no interest, I just assumed it was because I was staying under my limit. However, over the past couple of months I became concerned as I realised I should be paying interest. I rang my BOI branch last week and told them my concern. Basically they set up my account wrong in their system all those years ago and it was down as a student account! I said to the guy that I must owe them hundreds, if not thousands, in arrears but he said they won't be looking for back payments.

Its all fixed now and I now pay interest on my overdraft. But guess what.... my account isn't in overdraft anymore :)

I suppose I deserved the high bank charges that I was moaning about at the start of this thread!
 
I recently got a call from Bank of Ireland about my bank charges and they cancelled the quartlerly bank charges once I used my online or phone banking at least once a month. I still have an overdraft with them that I have to pay interest on but this is small enough.

Call the bank and tell them you want free bank charges as advertised in the radio, newspapers etc. and that the present situation is unfair and the you are considering moving your account. They generally will do anything to keep a customer as it wil refelct badly on them if you leave.

If not change your bank statement billing option from being billed per transaction to a standard fee per quarter of appoximately €15 -20.
 
Falzer said:
Iyou are considering moving your account. They generally will do anything to keep a customer as it wil refelct badly on them if you leave.
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Untrue from my experience.
Some years back when they implemented their "100 steps towards 2000" new procedures (one of which was no more free banking) , they started to charge me banking fees while i was paying none in the past.
As i disagreed with the new procedure and charges, I went to the branch for a chat and told them i will move to another bank if they continued charging me banking fees... They did not agree so, i moved A/Cs moved elsewhere (and i have not paid a cent in fees since...)
After that, i received few phone calls from BOI asking me why i closed my A/Cs. There are trully a bunch of tick muppets....
So basically, you wil get their attention once you have executed the move, not before....
I can not understand why people still bank with BOI as so many other bank offer free banking.;)
 
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