Bank of Ireland free banking

Jister said:
This bit gets me, charging for overdrafts and losing out on the free banking when overdrawn etc.

Surely it is your banks interest for you to go overdrawn so that they can charge you interest?

The same way as its in the interest of credit card companies for you not to pay off your bill every month and pay interest on the balance?
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have to agree fully with Jister on this.

IFSRA should not allow banks who do not offer no-strings free current accounts advertise restricted accounts in this way.

AFAIK, the PTSB switcher account is still the only current which gives a no-strings fees-free current account, where you don't require a minimum credit balance or have to remain in credit.

see this, from PTSB to me some time ago: ptsb reply to query
 
That's very interesting. I had assumed it would only be free if you were in credit.

It actually struck me that the NIB ad's are not very good from the banks point of view in that they reinforce in the mind of the listener that the account isn't really free.

Boiled Egg - An Egg that's boiled.
Free Bank - A bank account that's free, when you're in credit.

It's great that they're honest any up front about it, but I don't think if I was advertising an account with strings attached I'd want it done in this way.

Anyway...Well done PTSB if your account really is free. I wonder what the figures for people switching are like?

-Rd
 
Anyway...Well done PTSB if your account really is free. I wonder what the figures for people switching are like?
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...having said that though I found them ****e to deal with a few years back & moved my account away from them anyway. Not sure if they are good/bad or same as the rest these days though.

ninsaga
 
TRS30 said:
Account has to stay over € 500 for the whole quarter or all fees will apply.
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This is quiet a string to attach to a freebank account, but at least it is competition for PTSN and NIB's Freebank account. This will put pressure on AIB to follow suit. Looks like "free" or "nearly free" banking might be here to stay, which is good news!
 
I think AIB came out and said that they have no intention of offering 100% mortgages or free banking. Time will tell.
 
It's great to get the critical analysis of the forthcoming BOI "free Banking". Thanks.

The BOI Bank representative told me about the "free banking" when I informed them that I was considering moving to another bank which had approached me with free banking and a cheaper mortgage interest rate.

The Bank dropped my fix rate mortgage by 0.1% and said I would be able to avail of the new free banking. Now they know how my current account operates and I certainly don't keep it in credit all the time let alone keep a minimun of €500.

I'll wait until the product is launched, but I intend to kick up a fuss if they don't honour their promise of free banking. However I'm not sure if I would actually move my current account. I have found my BOI branch to be responsive flexible and efficient.

I can't say the same of First Active the other mortgage provider I use.
 
Hi There,

We're AIB customers and my son told me that, when he threatened to move to another bank, they gave him free banking. Sure enough, I phoned my branch and they immediately credited a €25 facility fee thay had just charged and committed to giving me free banking for 18 months. I guess that AIB don't want to publicise this tactic but any other AIB customers should try it immedaitely.

Cheers,

Ozone Vibe
 
You can always buy divi paying bank stocks with good divi cover to profit from them profiting from us via bank charges ! There is a UK FTSE 100 bank yielding around 7% (gross nominal) at the moment - write some out of the money covered calls and you can potentially increase your returns and limit any adverse exchange movements. The examples for deposit rates above refer to nominal rates - the real returns are negative. 500 euro deposited for 1 year at 3.05% will give you 512.2 euro after DIRT. The annual rate of inflation is now 3% so your 512.2 in one years time has a purchasing power of 497.28 euro today ie you have a negative return over the year.
 
Bank of Ireland recently increased their fee for an overdraft, I do not pay any overdraft fee at all. I threatened to close my account and they agreed to waive the fee for the overdraft facility.

I will challenge them on the free banking and the €500 minimum as well.
 
Rang up my branch,

not very helpful at all, the response was "thats the criteria". I could live with the €500, but the at minumim 3 365 transactions a quarter is dodgy as most of my day to day transactions are covered via DD. I just cant see the logic of this second one as it's making more work for themselves? Mentioned ptsb and said I'd move to a truely free account, she didnt even bat an eyelid!!

Perhaps she was too junior to think on her feet, but been with them for 20+ years, and dont feel I should have to go begging.

I'll start the switch to ptsb and hope it goes smoothly..
S.
 
I actually emailed [email protected] this is the "customer care" department in Dublin. By doing this it becomes an official complaint and their job is to satisfy you. They contacted the local branch and when done this way the branch must try to resolve the issue.

By emailing everything is in writing and it is not as easy for them to fob you off.

The "customer care" department are probably measured on how many complaints they resolve in a certain timeframe.

Tell them you are banking for 20 years etc. etc.
 
Just called BoI to register my existing account for free banking as described above.

I'm pretty sure the girl on the phone said that the second requirement is to make 3 online transactions per quater, not per month. Can anyone confirm/deny?
 
fullerand said:
I'm pretty sure the girl on the phone said that the second requirement is to make 3 online transactions per quater, not per month. Can anyone confirm/deny?
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Yup, it's 3 online payments per quater, see here:

[broken link removed]
 
try to keep my transactions to a minimum and use free banking elsewhere... but my salary goes in and ssia comes out and I usually transfer the remaining out every month... just calculated my fees approx €3.... had to laugh though when I realised BOI charge me .28c to take out the €3 from my account!!!
 
I'm not giving out, I should have read the small print more carefully, but here is what I discovered today, and I thought I would share it with other readers.

I signed up for the free banking on November 14th. My balance has been over €500 and I have already made 3 365 transactions and yet today, bank charges were withdrawn from my account.

When I telephone to query the charge, I was advised that when I signed up in November, we were already in the middle of a quarter, and that the new quarter starts from Jan 1st, and therefore the charges are due from September to December 2005.

Just so you know!

Wollran
 
Just to let everyone know, even though Bank of Ireland are advertising a balance over €500 and 3 365 transactions per quarter for free banking, at branch level it looks like bank fees can be waived at the discretion of the Bank Manager.

The more people that complain and threaten to move then the quicker BoI get rid of these nonsense conditions altogether.

I complained and got freebanking without any special conditions.
 
Wollran said:
Im not giving out, I should have read the small print more carefully, but here is what I discovered today, and I thought I would share it with other readers.

I signed up for the free banking on November 14th. My balance has been over €500 and I have already made 3 365 transactions and yet today, bank charges were withdrawn from my account.

When I telephone to query the charge, I was advised that when I signed up in November, we were already in the middle of a quarter, and that the new quarter starts from Jan 1st, and therefore the charges are due from September to December 2005.

Just so you know!

Wollran
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I too got the bill for charges, I'll be on to the branch manager first thing to complaint and try and get free banking without these restrictions!!, As for the quarter stuff, they are pulling your leg unless they have adjusted their quarters. This is taken from their own website ([broken link removed])

Account transaction fees are currently calculated quarterly, with each fee quarter ending on the weekend closest to 21st February, 21st May, 21st August and 21st November, and with fees being debited to the Account approximately one month later. Account balances are measured based on the overnight balance in the account. Lodgements received after 5pm may not be reflected in the account until the following working day. These dates and times may be subject to change.
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Just been charged today €25 for an overdraft facility by BOI. I knew I had that facility but had NEVER previously been charged fees.

I called to complain:

1. They argued that all people have to pay.

2. I said I had not been notified. They insisted I had.

3. I said I had never paid the fee before. She said I had, but then admitted that I hadn't when she checked the statements from this time last year.

4. After much arguing, she offered to refund the fee, but said she would have to remove the facility (fair enough, but you'd think they'd leave it, especially given the next point)

5. She suddenly said, "look you HAVE used your overdraft in the past year" and reeled off three dates (back in MAY 05!!!), when I went o'drawn by €50/€60/€95. I asked how quickly I'd repaid these, and she said within a couple of days. I have a limit of €500.

Sorry, I'm aware this is probably a LOS post, so please delete if needed. But I'm fuming.

And I'm going to e-mail their customer care and the IFSRA to complain about the deduction of €25 without my authorisation/knowledge.
 
Oh, and I had requested that the flat fees be put on my a/c (back in February), but it won't be active until next quarter, so I paid €24 in fees today.

I have told them I'm moving to PTSB and got NO response other than "Oh, sorry to hear that"
 
I thought you might be interested in the response from BOI Customer Care:


Thank you for your email to the Bank of Ireland Customer Care Unit.

The charge of €25.00 is automatically charged to customers account. We do not prenotify customers.

The charge applies regardless of whether you use the facility or not. Once you have the facility on your account you will be charged for it.

The branch has refunded the €25.00 charge this year, but if you want to continue using the facility you will continue to be charged.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and allowing us the opportunity to respond.

Yours sincerely

Customer Care Unit
 
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