Unexpected refund from PermTSB

[biggerry]

I got a lovely letter from PermTSB this morning.

According to them they "..... have identified some limited cases where you did not receive the full value of these discounts." They credited my account with €106.15. €10.65 of this amount is a refund of the relevant charges and the balance is to compensate me for the loss of interest.

 

[ClubMan]

Nice but why are you paying bank charges (?) at all in this day and age? I guess you have to assume that any compensation that they sent you is correct and not subject to the same sort of errors that gave rise to the problem in the first place?

 

[biggerry]

Is it possible to change the "status" of a current account from fee paying to non-fee paying without opening a new account?

I use this account for rental income and to pay a mortgage on an investment property (mortgages not with PermTSB). I know that if I switch, all the standing order / direct debits etc will be transferred by PermTSB, but I'd have to get the tenants to change their standing order to deposit the rent in a new account and, if possible, I'd like to avoid this.

 

[CCOVICH]

Nice but why are you paying bank charges (?) at all in this day and age?

I suspect that the error or 'Customer Issue' is from a some time ago.

I guess you have to assume that any compensation that they sent you is correct and not subject to the same sort of errors that gave rise to the problem in the first place?

In my experience, when a financial institution 'corrects' an error they are fairly thorough about it, and have to document their confidence in their work for review by the Financial Regulator. No guarantees of course...

 

[CCOVICH]

Is it possible to change the "status" of a current account from fee paying to non-fee paying without opening a new account?

This is really an issue for a separate thread.

ptsb should be willing to waive the charges on the account given that they now offer free banking. Remind them of the screw up they made on your account in the first place when requesting them to do so.

but I'd have to get the tenants to change their standing order to deposit the rent in a new account and, if possible, I'd like to avoid this.

I don't know why-it's not that much of a big deal.

 

[ClubMan]

I suspect that the error or 'Customer Issue' is from a some time ago.

Fair enough.

In my experience, when a financial institution 'corrects' an error they are fairly thorough about it, and have to document their confidence in their work for review by the Financial Regulator. No guarantees of course...

Not in mine. When NIB did their big trawl through customer accounts checking for errors from the 80s/90s (?) I filled in the forms (in relation to accounts that I had with them from c. 1988-1992) and never heard anything back from them. Once when they mistakenly logged a lodgement in my account book (remember them! ) they corrected it later but failed to give me a clear explanation of what had happened and how they had gone about rectifying it.

 

[CCOVICH]

Not in mine. When NIB did their big trawl through customer accounts checking for errors from the 80s/90s (?) I filled in the forms (in relation to accounts that I had with them from c. 1988-1992) and never heard anything back from them. Once when they mistakenly logged a lodgement in my account book (remember them! ) they corrected it later but failed to give me a clear explanation of what had happened and how they had gone about rectifying it.

You can request an explantion from them, there were probably a few such requests. They were under no obligation to explain what happened to you unless you asked. The documentation I was referring to was for the benefit of the Financial Regulator, not the customer. Getting the refund would be enough for most people, but like yourself, I would probably want to know more and ask NIB for an explanation.

 

[ClubMan]

I did ask several times but gave up when I got the runaround. I reckoned any sums involved (if any) were not worth the bother.

Besides at the very least good customer relations whatever about any statutory obligations should have seen them providing a clear explanation unilaterally if necessary.

 

[CCOVICH]

I did ask several times but gave up when I got the runaround. I reckoned any sums involved (if any) were not worth the bother.

Fair enough. Sounds like grounds for a complaint to the Financial Regulator or the Ombudsman, but if the amounts involved weren't significant.....

Besides at the very least good customer relations whatever about any statutory obligations should have seen them providing a clear explanation unilaterally if necessary.

Indeed, did you voice this opinion to NIB or leave the bank?

 

[ClubMan]

Fair enough. Sounds like grounds for a complaint to the Financial Regulator or the Ombudsman, but if the amounts involved weren't significant.....

No IFSRA in those days. I guess the Ombudsman was the responsible authority though?

Indeed, did you voice this opinion to NIB or leave the bank?

I left them over this and various other issues as well as the convenience of dealing with another bank in the days when I used to attend the branch regularly.

 

[CCOVICH]

No IFSRA in those days. I guess the Ombudsman was the responsible authority though?

The Ombudsman for Credit Institutions would probably have been the relevant 'authority', but I'm not familiar with that office (now part of [broken link removed])