Updated - 7th December 2021
As an Ulster Bank refugee, I applied online to both BOI and AIB on Sunday 31/10/2021 to open a current account (I decided to do this first and get the basics right, and follow up with credit card and deposit account applications at a later date). This is how it worked out.
The BOI online application process was painless and took no more than 5 mins. The milestones are as follows:
Day 0, Applied online for Current Account
Day 1, IBAN received by SMS
Day 2, Online User ID issued and online access to new current account completed (App and Website)
Day 2, Requested existing savings accounts to be linked to new online User ID
Day 3, Existing savings accounts linked to new online User ID successfully and appearing in App/Website
Day 5, Debit Card arrived by post
Day 8, Debit Card PIN arrived by post
Day 11, Applied online for Demand Deposit Account (could have been done when I received the Debit Card, delay is down to me)
Day 11, Applied online for Credit Card (could have been done when I received the C/A number, delay is down to me)
Day 12, BOI requested further information (3 months bank statements and proof of PPSN) and uploaded same to BOI same day
Day 15, Deposit Account IBAN received by SMS
Day 15, Requested new Deposit Account to be linked to online User ID
Day 26, Credit Card arrived by post
Day 29, Credit Card PIN arrived by post
The AIB application was blocked because they believe me to be an existing customer (I had an account with them in the past, long closed (GDPR issue?). I filled in the appointment request and the Branch called me early the following morning. In fairness they attempted to reactivate my old profile to allow me to use the online process, but this wasn't possible. I was given an appointment for two weeks out, which appears reasonable when compared with some other poster's experiences. The milestones are as follows:
Day 0, Applied online for Current Account
Day 1, Given appointment for Day 16 to visit branch, bringing all documents necessary for account opening. Told to expect it to take an hour. And to the bank's credit, it was explained that the appointment was necessary in order to ensure that a staff member was available to minimise delays and waiting time.
Day 16, In branch appointment took place as scheduled. Meeting lasted 25 minutes. Current & Deposit accounts opened, account details handed over and online banking set-up and tested before I left the branch. Documents required for Credit Card were also scanned to the AIB system at this time. Credit Card application to be processed over the phone, and call scheduled for the following day.
Day 17, Call From AIB as scheduled to complete Credit Card application. Call lasted almost 1 hour. Application completed and forwarded to lending/underwriters (a lot of the call was spent listening to regulatory/compliance verbiage, terms and conditions and detailed info regarding the different types of credit card available).
Day 18, SMS received presenting proposed Credit Card credit limit, requesting approval to proceed with account set-up
Day 19, Debit Card PIN arrived by post
Day 22, Debit Card arrived by post
Day 25, Credit Card account opening confirmation and accout details arrived by post
Day 25, Credit Card PIN arrived by post
Day 26, Credit Card arrived by post
So at the end of the day there was little beween the two processes in terms of time to conclusion. It took a month in both cases to have all three accounts open and operational, online banking working and to be in posession of the cards and PINs. In the case of AIB I had to visit the branch.
A few observations:
- Based on previous experiences I had expected BOI to be dinosaur. In fact, their online application processes are well designed. I'm not saying that they are for everybody, but anybody with a reasonable experience of online processes and who can collate the necessary info in advance should have no real difficulty. However from that point on the BOI process, while having the appearance of being automated, struck me as quite fragmented under the surface. Communications variously arrived by SMS, letter post, e-mail and that weird messaging system they have. I suspect that the entire process may not be all that robust, and may show the strain when stress tested next year.
- The idea of the AIB branch meeting came across negatively when it first surfaced. However it was extremly profesionally conducted and a lot was achieved in a short time. I left the branch feeling that it was worthwhile.
- There was an inexplicable 14 day delay between the BOI Credit Card application and the confirmation and issue of the card. I did receive a couple of SMS "holding" messages saying that the application was being processed, and there was an online status checker, but these didn't contain any useful information.
- Nobody anywhere in AIB mentioned that I would need a card reader for a lot of day to day tasks online, nor was I offered one. I had a day set aside to manually migrate all my DDs, payees and transfer money etc and almost fell at the first hurdle. I was fortunate that a friend loaned me his card reader for the day (any AIB card reader can be used with any AIB debit card, once paired, apparently). A call to AIB was all that was required to get a card reader posted out for future use.
- I avoided the switcher process. This meant manual advising all DD Mandate holders, manually changing standing orders, updating CC details on a lot of subscriptions etc and re-entering all payees (this last task is very very cumbersome and slow on the AIB system). Most of this went smoothly, a few providers were a pain to deal with (looking at you VHI)
One word of advice to anybody that is going to meet AIB (or any other bank). When the AIB appointment was being scheduled, at the end of the call I was breezily told to "bring id". On the day I turned up with the following, none of which were specifically requested. All of which were gratefully received and scanned to the system ! I have no doubt that had I not had these I'd have been back and forth like a yo-yo for a week afterwards.
- Photo Id (Passport)
- 2 x Utility Bills from different providers, both issued in the last month or so, (neither was a mobile phone bill)
- Proof of PPSN (Revenue Correspondence, no financial data showing)
- 6 months UB Current Account Statements (reprinted from online PDFs)
- 6 months UB Credit Card Statements (reprinted from online PDFs)
- 6 months pay slips (this was the only item that wasn’t referred to on the day)
Closing my UB accounts was a whole other bucket of chaotic crap. I was given three or four totally conflicting answers when asking them about this. They appear to have no idea what they are doing, and staff briefing/training must be non existent. It was very disappointing and doesn't bode well.
I picked up along the way that UB have well over a million accounts and over half a million customers and that to date the have closed a low single digit number of these. If that amount activity has got the two largest "pillar" banks to the point where getting a customer up and running takes four weeks, it isn't difficult to project where things will go in 2022.
