Ulster Bank has advised current account customers to start moving their accounts now

A what now? ;)
BIL, he likes the discipline as he sees it, of writing cheques. He's wary of this new technology and based on his recent experiences, I don't blame him. A cheque is a magical little financial instrument, providing both an audit trail of the from and to accounts, including dates and it's a contract with T&Cs written on the back. If, as the payee, you don't agree with the T&Cs, hand the cheque back, otherwise, you're bound by them.
 
I can confirm it took about 6 weeks to get an appointment with AIB to open a joint account. Husband is with ulster bank, we have a joint account there and I am with AIB. Phoned the local branch, requested an appointment as you have to turn up in person to open a joint account if both of you don’t bank there. Did not get a call back from local branch to fix appointment, phoned again, they phoned but I missed the call, phoned again but no call back so I eventually worked from home one day and called to the bank in person to make the appointment for two weeks later.

My advice is call in person to the branch to make an appointment to open an account, it just seems the fastest way to get an appointment.

The appointment consisted of us sitting there watching the bank official slowly type all our info into the computer, scan husbands ID’s into an iPad etc. Took about 30 mins. I had gotten the application form when I called to the bank and we had filled it all out.

But on the upside we can both access the account on the banking app, I was afraid they might only allow a “main”account holder access it online.
 
So went to the AIB hub in Dundrum to open the joint account. After trying to do it, he told me that it wouldn't allow him in the hub (they use an ipad to open accounts) and we'd have to go to a branch. He was able to open the account for my son though.

Got home and opened up a joint account with BoI online instead. It took 3-4 minutes.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Freelance

That is really interesting. I think that functionality is much more important than the charges.

Could you start a new thread with your assessment and others could comment.

Brendan
Yep. I'd like to subscribe to that thread too.

Not to derail this thread, but I'd love to know how long transfers take as well. My wife and I have current accounts and regular savings accounts with KBC and transfers between each are are instant. Is this the same with all the main banks?
 
So went to the AIB hub in Dundrum to open the joint account. After trying to do it, he told me that it wouldn't allow him in the hub (they use an ipad to open accounts) and we'd have to go to a branch. He was able to open the account for my son though.

Got home and opened up a joint account with BoI online instead. It took 3-4 minutes.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
Opened a BOI account online yesterday, and within a few hours was able to register for online banking. All in all about 15 minutes of effort (incl. finding a suitable proof of address) to setup the account and get full online access to it.
Surprisingly smooth. It is indeed €6 monthly flat fee (which I don't really mind tbh). Mrs. Newirishwoman is with AIB, and we like to keep our current accounts in separate banks - just in case one of them has troubles.

After a brief look at the BOI android app it seems to be ok but not as nice as the UB one (which I really like), or even the AIB one. Will see how it goes once I start actually using it in earnest.

Will move any DD's etc. manually whenever I get to it, or I hear from Ulster to move my business elsewhere. Same with Credit Cards.
But no rush I guess.
 
While they stood before a woman seated at a desk they watched while the bank official harrumphed her way through the list of instructions. My sister eventually asked if her husband could have a chair. My BIL is in his 80's, a cancer survivor, frail and hard of hearing. Once the chair was supplied he was asked for his passport (again!!!) and he was asked if he was comfortable having "this woman" (his wife, with EPOA and nominated next-of-kin) overhear his business. He confirmed he could not conduct the business at hand without her presence and help.
Good to hear that they are careful about financial abuse of older people.
 
Mrs. Newirishwoman is with AIB, and we like to keep our current accounts in separate banks - just in case one of them has troubles.
I used to do this too, but being of pension age and having lost brothers too early in their lives, we now use joint accounts. If one spouse passed away, the other can use the a/c with no problems. I've seen what can happen when this is not the case and it can be a big, big, problem, eg, all direct debits frozen. Not nice.
Ulster Bank had free banking for over 66's, just wondering if that's the case with AIB and BOI?
 
What happens if an elderly UB customer does not want to engage with any account closure?
I have a family member like this. She refuses to deal with any hassles or paperwork.
 
What happens if an elderly UB customer does not want to engage with any account closure?
I have a family member like this. She refuses to deal with any hassles or paperwork.
If they do nothing and don't respond to any contact from UB then end result is they will probably get a cheque for the balance of account in the post when they are all closed. Fine if she has another account to lodge it to but if not then she will have to go through the hassle of opening it at that stage anyway.
 
Transfers between current, savings and credit card accounts are instant with AIB, Transfers to any other AIB account are also instant.
Is this not the case with BoI? We need to do this fairly frequently between accounts in our family (we do this with UB quickly and easily today) so would be good to get some insight on this before embarking on switching. I had a mild preference for BoI but would use AIB if BoI cannot support instant transfers.
 
What happens if an elderly UB customer does not want to engage with any account closure?
I have a family member like this. She refuses to deal with any hassles or paperwork.
As Monbretia says their account/s will be closed and a cheque/s for the balance sent to them. More importantly, any Direct Debits will cease. This would be a big worry as it may include the essential utilities, alarm monitoring, lpt, insurance, entertainment and news paper subscriptions, and so on. And any income streams e.g state or private pensions, which are paid by bank transfer into the account will also be interrupted. The mess that will ensue will be a much bigger hassle for your relative to sort out. A stitch in time and all that.
 
Good to hear that they are careful about financial abuse of older people.
Interesting comment.

This was their third time visiting the branch in person and going through the passport, ID, what's your business routine and their second time producing an identical list of signed written instructions. The first time they supplied the instructions they asked for confirmation that the instructions were clear and that all the information required was contained in the instructions. They got oral confirmation that the instructions were clear and straightforward.

10 days later, no funds showed up in the nominated BoI accounts. A phone call to the branch elicited the information that no one had seen the written instructions and they were asked for the name of the idiot official they'd left them with. They couldn't provide a name as they figured all bank officials, even the UB versions, could read English and follow the detailed signed instructions supplied.

Appalling to think that on their third visit in a relatively short time no one recognized them.

The entire saga with all 3 banks, Ulster, AIB, and BoI, has been very trying for both of them. The final insults were having to ask for a chair and my sister being referred to in a rude, dismissive fashion as if she wasn't vital to the eventual partial completion of the business at hand. Surely the official should have established who her audience was before she started tippy tapping on her keyboard and running off inappropriately at the mouth.

Abuse is right, visited on decades-long customers by uncaring idiots.

Watch the weekend papers for 1st hand versions of these events.
 
Yesterday I started the process of transferring both our State Pension payments across from Ulster Bank to AIB. The first stumbling block was trying to register ourselves on the My Welfare website. A couple of problems. The system did not recognise my Public Services Card account number. Eventually I keyed in the account number for my Free Bus Pass and it recognised that.
It also needed for my phone number to be associated with my driving licence for some reason. In the end I opted to have my PIN number sent out to me by post.
 
Yesterday I started the process of transferring both our State Pension payments across from Ulster Bank to AIB. The first stumbling block was trying to register ourselves on the My Welfare website. A couple of problems. The system did not recognise my Public Services Card account number. Eventually I keyed in the account number for my Free Bus Pass and it recognised that.
It also needed for my phone number to be associated with my driving licence for some reason. In the end I opted to have my PIN number sent out to me by post.
We also opted to have our PIN numbers sent to us in the post. My wife has a smartphone....I don't. The system had asked me for my phone number in order to send me my PIN. I use the landline in our home that is not enabled for texts.

Anyhow, we both got our PINS in the post. I then went on to their site and entered my name, PPS number and Public Service Card number. (If you don't have a public service card, I don't know how you will be able to access the online services).

I entered my landline as my phone number, thinking that the PIN I got in the post would be sufficient. It wasn't. They wanted to send me an additional code to the smartphone that I don't have. I ended up having to use my wife's smartphone to get my text code to access the MyWelfare site.

I was then asked for my birth name, my mother's birth name. I was then sent yet another code to progress to the next step.

Finally I was able to enter my change of bank details.

My wife also changed her details and during the process she got 3 text codes to her smartphone.

It was a long and laborious process to change our bank details from the Ulster bank to our new bank.

You will need to have a public services card, a smartphone, a smartphone that is already linked to you via another state agency, otherwise you will have to get a PIN sent to you in the post.

I would advise you to get started as soon as possible.
 
I recently opened a new AIB current account and I have started manually moving our various direct debits and pensions across from the Ulster Bank to the AIB.
We very recently advised the Social Services Pensions department of this move. Last night we got a text, supposedly from AIB asking us to "unlock" our account by clicking here etc. No doubt a scam.
Last year we also had a scam attempt after contacting the Social Services department about something.......

If you are in the process of moving accounts from the Ulster Bank, be aware that someone somewhere appears to have access of sorts to information along the line somewhere....
 
Absolutely, it is definitely a coincidence.

However, when you are doing some transaction with your bank and you get a text or email supposedly from the bank, your guard is probably down as you are expecting correspondence.

It happened me once when I was discussing something with AIB. Then they sent me an email. And I was just about to click when I realised... that it was probably a scam. But because I was expecting a response, I was less alert.

Brendan
 
Three local Post Offices that I have used in the past year have now closed. One in the Woodbine area of Booterstown, one In UCD Belfield and one located in a shop in Mount Merrion. As a result the Stillorgan Shopping Centre and the SuperValu Blackrock Post Offices are now much busier.
 
Would an adverse credit rating impact trying to open a current account with BOI or AIB? Without an overdraft.
 
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