Free banking - the small catches.

[sfag]

I bank with Ulster Bank and its changing and not always for the better.

Since the UB introduced free bank charges they have upped their bounced DD charges (to 12.70) and have altered the date upon which your bank account needs to be in credit by one day prior to the DD date. So if your dd comes out on the 1st of the month the money better be in your account and cleared on the 31st of the previous month otherwise it will bounce.

Also if a withdrawal and a lodgment are scheduled for the same day as far as I can see they now systematically action the debit transaction first before the lodgement - therefore increasing the chances of somehthing bouncing. Can banks do this ?.

Overdraft interest now comes out monthly and not quarterly thus debiting your account more regularly.

My local branch service seems to be slipping too - very hard to get thru on the phone.

If you have a mortgage with them they offer only one day upon which the dd comes out and thats the 1st of the month - so if there is any delay in your payment it stands an increased chance of bouncing.

Finally can you really rely on the lack of transaction charges lasting for ever?.

Apart form that free banking is free whiles it lasts and they are 'agressive' (ie generous) lenders albiet being a bit beaucratic in the proccess and all of the above might not make them any worst than the others.

Any chance of a sticky thead listing all the less than obvious catches with banks offers?

 

[rkeane]

They were always going to get their money back one way or another. The best thign to do is be smart with your money and, as a personal policy, always be in credit. You are worth something when you are in credit.

 

[CCOVICH]

Overdraft interest now comes out monthly and not quarterly thus debiting your account more regularly.

If interest is charged/collected more regularly, it may actually reduce the amount payable.

Finally can you really rely on the lack of transaction charges lasting for ever?

No. But there is nothing to stop you moving your account if UB reintroduces charges for everyday transactions.

The key catch appears to be-don't leave yourself short if you have to make scheduled payments. UB offer a 'free' authorised overdraft facility as part of their standard banking package.

 

[Humpback]

Not being smart, but by the way you're relating your story, you're a Bank Managers wet dream with regards to operating your current account on the edge all the time.

As the other poster mentioned (as hard as it might be) you're better off always making sure you're in credit so that such issues of timing don't cause you any difficulties, and excess charges.

 

[sfag]

"you're a Bank Managers wet dream "

You bet I am. Spent too much building a house and now skate very close to the edge until I catch up with the bills.

You see I never had UB banking transactions charges. Instead I paid the 9 euros for the ufirst account and as such the regular transactions charges are waived. Now I still pay the 9 euros for the ufirst acc as its attached to my UB mortgage and so do not benefit from the new free charges regime BUT do suffer from the tighter bouncing DD charges and terms.

The thing I noticed with banks when I was in the UK was that they always had free banking but they waited for you in the long grass and hit you with a £35 for anything bouncing.

Hey - were all going to stray into the long grass at some time or other.

 

[pernickety]

i've had the same with Ulster Bank recently, having been a good customer for 15 years.

I asked permtsb for a payment holiday and they didn't process the request which left me going into unauthorised overdraft in UB for 3 consecutive months. Every transaction thereafter cost me 4.44 euro. I asked them to extend my overdraft and they didn't get back to me at all. Meanwhile they slapped on 12.70 for each DD that was refused. Then they charged their interest on overdraft (11%?) and the extra 9% (?) because it was unauthorised.

I'm disputing some of the above as they're response on each point was awful. If I have to pay all I will (~150 in total at this stage) but I will be moving my account and depriving them of the proceeds of my house sale (which was the very reason all the above happened to begin with).

as someone said that's the way they make their money, but they'll lose a loyal customer.

 

[ClubMan]

Any chance of a sticky thead listing all the less than obvious catches with banks offers?

IFSRA's personal current account survey might be useful in this context. It's available from [broken link removed].
[broken link removed]

 

[irishpancake]

IFSRA's personal current account survey might be useful in this context. It's available from [broken link removed].
[broken link removed]

CM, that particular survey is next to useless, as it is from January 2006 and almost all banks have introduced completely new personal current accounts since then. There should be a new survey along any day now!!

 

[ClubMan]

As far as I can see many of the charges listed match those currently charged on the relevant accounts. Perhaps there are other newer accounts not listed but that doesn't make the survey useless in my opinion. Why not contact IFSRA and ask them if/when they will update their survey?

 

[irishpancake]

My only point in regard the IFSRA survey is that it is outdated, in that it doesn't reflect substantial changes which have been introduced by the "Big 2" i.e. AIB/BoI, in relation to wider availability of "transaction-free banking" .

It also does not at all reflect the "current" situation with NIB/Danske, particularly the non-availability of their popular "Freebank" product, and the totally new range of accounts now being marketed by NIB/Danske.

Yes it does mention PTSB Switcher and UB transaction-free banking, but you would get the impression that they were alone in offering this type of product from that survey.

Really, IFSRA need to produce a survey which reflects the current situation, or they should continuously up-date the existing document.

I have not contacted IFSRA because I do not rely on their survey to keep abreast of the current situation, and I didn't recommend it in the first place.