Ulster Bank Introducing Transactions Fees

PolkaDot

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Charlie Weston reporting in the Indo today that UB are set to introduce transaction fees.
https://www.independent.ie/business...ansaction-charges-for-customers-37807132.html

Monthly maintenance fee will reduce to €2. But there will now be transaction charges of:
- 20c for debit card, online transfers, direct debits
- 35c for ATM transactions
- 1c for Contactless
- 80c for branch/paper based transactions

This is very disappointing. I use my UB joint current account in conjunction with a UB savings account and do a lot of online transactions between the two. It is the most effective way for me to manage my household finances.

I’ll probably look to move now to KBC. I have N26 and Revolut accounts too. Might just start using them more for the household finances.
 
Agreed, I maintained the minimum €3000 cleared funds in my current account to avoid fees, now, even doing that will not avoid these new fees.

I’m a customer since the 80’s, time to shop around.
 
Agreed, I maintained the minimum €3000 cleared funds in my current account to avoid fees, now, even doing that will not avoid these new fees.

I’m a customer since the 80’s, time to shop around.

Keeping €3000 in the account will avoid the transaction fees but you'll still have to pay the €2 monthly maintenance fee.

I know they can be avoided but those transaction fees are absolutely obscene. It's almost as if they are trying to push people to N26 and Revolut instead of trying to actually compete with them.
 
My local branch has reduced the number of cashiers to one. The queue moves.....very......slowly.

They no longer buy or sell foreign currencies.

As I am over 65 I will not have to pay fees but I have not been happy with Ulster Bank for a long time now.
 
...

Monthly maintenance fee will reduce to €2. But there will now be transaction charges of:
- 20c for debit card, online transfers, direct debits
- 35c for ATM transactions
- 1c for Contactless
- 80c for branch/paper based transactions

.....


The way I see it, it'll be €4 pm for the account, including €2 worth of transactions.

I tend to use a few standing orders and direct debits, but thereafter I use contact-less and google pay quite a lot, so I don't think my monthly cost will go much above €4 pm. All I need to do is start training myself to get cashback a little more often, and this could even end up a little less than €4 pm.

Having seen what the PTSB are proposing, this still looks cheaper to me ... but it also signals that all the Banks have probably decided to increase their current account charges, much in the same way as they often seem to act much like a syndicate, when it comes to increasing or lowering their SVRs etc.
 
I thought it was 1 cent for contactless ?
It is, but it's the principle I object to (oh dear, talking about principles in relation to a bank .... what was I thinking?).

One interesting question arises though: if I only use my Mastercard contactless, will that be subjected to the 1c fee? What I've seen to date only refers to "Debit card purchases in Euro within SEPA, Apple Pay and Google Pay transactions". Surely that contactless payment is processed by Mastercard, and not Ulster Bank?
 
I maintained the minimum €3000 cleared funds in my current account
It's really a question of whether you can get €24 or more interest in a year by putting that money elsewhere.

Up until this, it made sense to keep €3000 in the current acount as that way you could save more in fees (€48 p.a.) than you would have earned in interest in any of the UB instant access accounts.

That will no longer be the case, so there's no incentive to leave UB with all that free money for them to lend to others at exorbitant rates.
 
Debit Card or Credit Card?
I currently don't use the UB (Visa) debit card at all, so I'm wondering whether my contactless payments using the (also UB) Mastercard credit card will also be penalised. It's not clear from the wording I've seen.
 
Such outrage over a business charging for its services.

This is a highly profitable Bank seeking to add further costs to customers that already hold minimum €3000 in their current account ( me ), we are easy targets until we find another option, tradition says that there is complacency with customers moving Bank, this charge is important for anybody interested in money management, hence the discussion.

The clue is in the name of this website.
 
Such outrage over a business charging for its services.
.... a "business" that makes us offers we can't refuse. Unless you've just arrived on this planet and have zero knowledge of what's been going on over the past ten years, surely you can understand the outrage?
 
Such outrage over a business charging for its services.

I don’t mind the outrage so much.

But are people counting pennies when they should be watching the pounds?

I have often been asked to do a media piece on bank charges and I have always refused on the grounds that they are irrelevant in the grander scheme of things. I always ask the journalist “what mortgage rate are you paying?” And suggest that they write about that instead.

But bank charges are easier to understand than percentages.

Brendan
 
I kind of agree but I suppose it depends on how much you will be hit by! I am stuck with UB and the current account as it is the one linked to my offset mortgage so to avail of the offsetting I must keep it. I can keep the balance of 3k there so won't pay the transaction charges but will be caught for the €2 per month. If I had to pay all the transactions charges it would be a good bit as a do a fair few online transfers, atm withdrawals etc. Don't use the cheaper tap and pay ones at all.

Yesterday I switched electricity provider (which I do fairly regularly anyway) but there is a €50 cashback offer on that so at least that will more than pay for my first year's fees anyway.
 
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