KBC current account holders need to switch to a new bank asap

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evil_g

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Brendan Burgess said:
KBC customers do not need to do anything as Bank of Ireland is planning to take over their accounts.

Of course, KBC customers may wish to switch to a bank other than Bank of Ireland.

Brendan
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Are you sure that's the case?

The guidance under "Important Customer Notice - Current Accounts - Updated 22nd October 2021" on the KBC site (I can't post a link for some reason) isn't all that clear.

I had understood "you will need to switch or close your account at a future date" as meaning that I would need to find a bank and switch to them, but maybe it means I will need to allow myself be switched to BOI?

Are you aware of any clearer statement on the issue?
 
EvilG - you are quite right. I don't know where I got the idea that BoI was taking over the KBC current accounts.


Existing Customers

While no immediate impact is foreseen for your KBC Current Account, should a Binding Agreement with Bank Of Ireland receive regulatory approval, you will need to switch or close your account at a future date.
 
The KBC and BoI deal is much further advanced that Ulster Bank and permanent tsb.

So, yes KBC customers should open a new current account.

If you are getting the 0.2% discount on your mortgage from KBC you should keep your KBC account open.

Brendan
 
Why do we need to switch "ASAP"?
KBC are continuing to operate as normal for now. We still get our free banking. You can even still open a new current account from their website if you wish. They are not going to disappear over night. We will be given notice of when they are going to withdraw.
 
Hi John

Because when everyone tries to close their account, open a new account and switch direct debits at the same time, there will be chaos.

So you need to open an account with a new bank. You can close your KBC account at your leisure.

Brendan
 
I've had an elderly relative who had a few sleepless nights a few months back when it was announced that UB were leaving as she did not know what was going to be happen to her money.
These are orderly closures. Account holders will be given plenty of notice. Other banks will be adverting to hoover up their business. New products will arrive on the market. We can see this already from the credit unions and An Post. There should be no need to cause panic over this, especially in the media.
 
Anyone can go ahead and open the likes of Revolut or N26 now and get a backup in place free of cost. No real need to panic just yet but definitely worth getting things started at this stage, even for Ulster with at least 6 months to go.

I do really hope some IE IBANs show up outside of the main banks before KBC/Ulster close up to give us some more options. Running into the IE IBAN only restrictions, even with the SEPA IBAN discrimination stuff is fairly common.
 
I think there is an open goal here for the Credit Unions. Unfortunately my local CU has not yet got a current account option, but they told me recently that they are working on it and will be making an announcement soon. I live in an area with a largely elderly population and only had an Ulster Bank in the area for as long as I remember, so I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of them are UB customers. The local CU would be the ideal home for these customers if they can get their offering in place in time.
 
I would think that most Credit Unions do NOT not want a lot of new customers with deposits in the accounts and who are all looking for free or cheap banking.

Providing banking services is expensive and only ever works if further services can be provided eg insurance, assurance, etc to the customer
 
My local CU is right beside UB branch and has current account options, still have to pay for them but they are there. The one thing that I think would stop local elderly people going for CU is the massive queues always outside, it snakes down the street practically every day and now in Covid times that means standing outside for a lot of the time, grand in summer but not on a day like today for example.

I am tempted to go with CU myself as I already have an account there, seldom go in there except for needing the odd draft but the queue is nearly always mental. They do have a fairly low cap on savings which again might not suit people who have a few bob savings as even if you went with their CA you'll still have to find a home for the savings.
 
jpd said:
I would think that most Credit Unions do NOT not want a lot of new customers with deposits in the accounts and who are all looking for free or cheap banking.

Providing banking services is expensive and only ever works if further services can be provided eg insurance, assurance, etc to the customer
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https://currentaccount.ie/find-your-credit-union/ there seems to be over 100 Credit Unions on this list, so they must see a future for current accounts or they would not be putting in the effort.

I'd be happy enough with their offering too, once I see their mobile app. The CU app for their deposit account is quite good anyway, so hopefully the CA one will be the same. The €4 per month charge is not the cheapest, but not bad either. I've been with KBC for a number of years and I have not missed in-branch banking, so I don't see myself having to queue for any service, however having the option of having a branch within a few hundred meters of my home is a nice bonus.
 
ryaner said:
Anyone can go ahead and open the likes of Revolut or N26 now and get a backup in place free of cost. No real need to panic just yet but definitely worth getting things started at this stage, even for Ulster with at least 6 months to go.

I do really hope some IE IBANs show up outside of the main banks before KBC/Ulster close up to give us some more options. Running into the IE IBAN only restrictions, even with the SEPA IBAN discrimination stuff is fairly common.
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Unless something has changed recently, Revolut is not a bank (with guarantee), as far as I'm aware. There are other threads on AAM related to this.
 
Just to let others know.
I was with UB, joint a'c with my other half, but I also had a current a/c with AIB that hadn't been used for a few years. Thought it would be simple to just switch and maybe it will be. Went in this morning to initiate it, but the earliest I can get an appointment is 25th Nov. The whole process will take aprox 20/30 mins. Letting people know they might need to get off their butts and start the whole process, or else they'll be back on here in a few months blaming every Tom, Dick and Harry for something that'll be their own fault. :oops:
 
I plan on just opening a new PTSB account. You can do it on the app. Except I couldn't get the app to verify any document with my address. I tried a few.

Now waiting on a call back to set up an appointment in the branch.
 
I’ve a KBC account that will close and am lucky that I have one of the old no fees for life PTSB accounts so tried today to get a debit card for that and start using it again. 90 mins in total on the phone and close to 30 mins in a branch today to get it sorted.
There was a lady waiting in the customer service area in tears because some of here paperwork was missing. She is moving from UB and was clearly distraught. I think she said she was in her 70s and being told to log on to the website did not seem to be helping!! If you know people that might struggle with this it might be helpful to go with them as I don’t think staff in the “branch” have the time or inclination to help.
 
Just a warning.

If any of you have a pension payment from Mercer you will need to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

It has taken me the best part of a month to get them to acknowledge to me that they are changing my pension payment from my old bank to my new bank.

This is after a number of emails, a phone call, a complaint, calling in to their office to leave in an instruction letter. In that letter I asked them to acknowledge that they had completed my request. They never bothered to do this.

I had to chase them up again today by email to get an update only to be told that they had done the change of details two weeks ago.

I changed my Vodafone DD in less than two minutes online.

Mercer are at the top of the list of the most frustrating of companies that I have ever done business with.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
EvilG - you are quite right. I don't know where I got the idea that BoI was taking over the KBC current accounts.


Existing Customers

While no immediate impact is foreseen for your KBC Current Account, should a Binding Agreement with Bank Of Ireland receive regulatory approval, you will need to switch or close your account at a future date.
Click to expand...

The messaging from KBC have being confusing.

On one hand KBC have said that BoI will be acquiring the "substantial majority" of assets and liabilities including deposits. One could easily infer from this that this includes current accounts especially when circa. 50% of KBC deposits are held in current accounts.

On the other hand KBC have said you will need to "switch or close" your current account.

BoI are hardly acquiring the "substantial majority" of liabilities if current accounts are excluded which seems to be the case.

I guess BoI expect a large number of KBC current account holders to manually switch to BoI.

A lot of KBC deposit products are linked to their current account such as their Extra regular saver product. Interesting to see what happens to holders of these products too.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Because when everyone tries to close their account, open a new account and switch direct debits at the same time, there will be chaos.
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Indeed. There was chaos for the first few weeks after Halifax started forcing customers to switch. And that was much smaller scale.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Hi John

Because when everyone tries to close their account, open a new account and switch direct debits at the same time, there will be chaos.

So you need to open an account with a new bank. You can close your KBC account at your leisure.

Brendan
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If Revolut are clever they will get their Irish banking license (and thus deposit insurance) just in time to give these ex-KBC customers a new home.
 
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