Key Post Which bank makes it easiest to open a new current account?

You would wonder why they tell people it will be one day......better to tell them it will take four days and produce the goods after three days.
Good point. Suspect is an auto-generated response which needs updating in light of Covid staffing issues and also I assume what must be now an increasing number of new account openings from UB
 
Good point. Suspect is an auto-generated response which needs updating in light of Covid staffing issues and also I assume what must be now an increasing number of new account openings from UB
Just to update on this I got IBAN same day. Will see how long online and cards take but impressed so far
 
I was previously an AIB customer before I moved to KBC. When I tried opening an acocunt through the AIB app I was told as I was previously a customer I could not open via the app and had to go to a branch in person. So I tried ringing the branch a couple of dozen times and it was never answered. So I went to the branch on 20th May (today) and was told they could not help me today and I would not get an appointment before July. Went straight to BOI down the road, was seen straight away and have since applied online for a Current acc and Credit card with no fuss at all.
 
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I was previously an AIB customer before I moved to KBC. When I tried opening an acocunt through the AIB app I was told as I was previously a customer I could not open via the app and had to go to a branch in person. So I tried ringing the branch a couple of dozen times and it was never answered. So I went to the branch on 20th May (today) and was told they could not help me today and I would not get an appointment before July. Went straight to BOI down the road, was seen straight away and have since applied online for a Current acc and Credit card with no fuss at all.
Slightly off topic but this difference in quality of customer service (between BOI and AIB) is going to cause some/many people to switch their mortgage from KBC/UB to BOI, even though AIB are much better value over the long term in most cases.
 
Slightly off topic but this difference in quality of customer service (between BOI and AIB) is going to cause some/many people to switch their mortgage from KBC/UB to BOI, even though AIB are much better value over the long term in most cases.
Quick Update, I received my new BOI IBAN the same evening I applied to open the current account. Very surprised and happy with this efficiency.
 
So we made another attempt with AIB and once again they put more obstacles in our way, mainly related to the proof of address and id requirements. The main reason we tried again was that ideally we would like one place for our bank and credit card accounts.
In the end we decided to try the credit union and the difference was night and day. We walked into our local branch with no appointment ( we were told we wouldn't need one) and the account was open within 20 minutes. There were no issues with either our proof of address or id. We'll transfer the direct debits ourselves and we should have our bank cards next week and also should be able to access our account online in a day or two. As we know the staff it was all informal and friendly.
Now to politely tell AIB that we got the hint and won't be proceeding with an account opening with them.
What type of obstacles were made in terms of proof of address or id? When I look at this they just want a passport and utility or other bank account statement with your current address on it. https://aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/basic-bank-account

Is the difficulty that they wouldn't take the digital copies of the documents or something else? Thanks
 
What type of obstacles were made in terms of proof of address or id? When I look at this they just want a passport and utility or other bank account statement with your current address on it. https://aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/basic-bank-account

Is the difficulty that they wouldn't take the digital copies of the documents or something else? Thanks
The difficulty was that they wouldn't accept a number of alternative letters as proof of address. We had brought one from revenue, one from our car insurance and I even brought a letter from Ulsterbank and they wouldn't even accept that! I had pointed out that we no longer get any utility bills posted out as we are trying to be greener and get them emailed instead so utility bills are not something we could provide them with. As I said, the Credit Union were quite happy to accept any one of these.
 
The difficulty was that they wouldn't accept a number of alternative letters as proof of address. We had brought one from revenue, one from our car insurance and I even brought a letter from Ulsterbank and they wouldn't even accept that! I had pointed out that we no longer get any utility bills posted out as we are trying to be greener and get them emailed instead so utility bills are not something we could provide them with. As I said, the Credit Union were quite happy to accept any one of these.
I'm fairly certain they will take pdf copies of utility bills.

For revenue only the LPT would be valid as you can change your revenue correspondence address quite easily.

Car Insurance - again, you can enter any address you like, so it has never qualified.

Letter from bank (as opposed to statement) has never qualified either.

Credit unions may use local knowledge and each one can have different interpretation. Kildare CU certainly requires "official" documents and would not accept car insurance from me but did accept LPT document when I was being added as a signatory to an account (wasn't even opening an account)
 
I did ulster to boi completely online. I used a pdf of an electricity bill and a scan of a driver's license. Haven't done the so/dds yet but it was very straightforward so far.
 
Anyone aware of an automated account switch implemented by one of the banks? Heard of a new service of a FinTech, but could not find any bank using it...
 
I moved my banking from KBC to my local credit union a few months back. It was easy to open the account online as I was already a member (but had to activate my online access). So far so good. The tech is not as good as KBC obviously but the fact I can link the card to Google Pay and Curve is good.

We now need to open a joint account. Reading to this thread it seems like the Credit Union is the way to go again...
 
I was looking to open a Current Account as a back up after my PTSB Visa Debit was declined while shopping in Lidl. It took over 30 mins waiting on the phone to be told that my account had been the target of a hack. I wanted to open an account with an Institution staffed by humans whom I could talk to if I had a problem. I tried Nenagh Credit Union as they do have Current Accounts with Cards, I`m originally from from Nenagh and still live in Tipperary , about 10 miles outside the town. They wouldn`t take me on, saying that I lived in an area covered by Scariff Credit Union. Scariff don`t do Currents Accounts and I don`t live in Clare, and don`t want to be forced to go someplace that doesn`t offer the service that I need. I was dismayed an appalled. Do I not have choice regarding which Credit Union I want to join?
 
I also applied for a Bank of Ireland credit card, as I clear the balance monthly I'm not overly worried about the interest rate and it tends to get used for work expenses or flights. Applying was easy but took around 8 weeks to get that card approved. Main issue was bank statements, they were so slow that my bank statements I'd uploaded went "out of date" twice so some box ticker in the bank sent the application back to me for me to upload new statements

Wife also opened a BOI current account and then opening a joint account for the household bills etc was a doddle. Have to say though, their app is seriously outdated, we'll give it a few months but would not be surprised if we moved again,
 
I also applied for a Bank of Ireland credit card, as I clear the balance monthly I'm not overly worried about the interest rate and it tends to get used for work expenses or flights. Applying was easy but took around 8 weeks to get that card approved. Main issue was bank statements, they were so slow that my bank statements I'd uploaded went "out of date" twice so some box ticker in the bank sent the application back to me for me to upload new statements

Wife also opened a BOI current account and then opening a joint account for the household bills etc was a doddle. Have to say though, their app is seriously outdated, we'll give it a few months but would not be surprised if we moved again,
Keep us in the loop please - I moved to BOI in Jan and it is so-so. Mobile app and internet Banking are really a blast from the past (90ies). Newirishwoman is with AIB, so don’t want to move my stuff there. And ptsb will not get any business from me ever after having experienced their customer ‘service’ once.
there‘s not many left then though in terms of Irish banks. So curious where you’d move to.
 
I finally got around to starting the process of moving accounts this week. I already have a savings account with my local Credit Union. I tried to apply for a current account via their app, but it kept telling me that my proof of address was out of date. I uploaded a fresh one a few times, but they must not have updated it.
So I dropped in to the branch this week to enquire. No queues in the branch and got straight to the cashier. She checked my details, seen that everything was up to date and offered to open my new current account there and then. She took me in to a side office, printed off the required paper work to sign, doubled checked that my internet banking was all working and I was out the door again 10 mins later with my new IBAN. I should have my new debit card in the post in 10 working days.
Their internet banking and App are fairly basic and look a bit plain, but its very easy to use and does everything my old KBC app does. I transferred money from my CU savings account to the new current account online and it transferred immediately. I also transferred funds form my KBC current account to the new CU current account and it appeared next day.
So far I'm very happy with my choice. The charges are €4 a month for everything I need and they have a branch with real people about a 5 minute walk from my house, so they are a good choice for me.
 
We decided to open an AIB current account pending the closure of our Ulster Bank account. We were opening an Advantage account.

I asked the lady that was opening the account if they actually wanted us as customers....she replied "not really" "there is nothing in it for us".
shockig but she was honest i guess.. Ned O'Keeffe got laughed at in the Dail when after the banking collapse he bemoaned the banking mergers of the 60s and wished we still had the National Bank and Munster & Leinster .... in lots of respects those mergers were wrong...
 
the National Bank and Munster & Leinster .... in lots of respects those mergers were wrong...

It's a tough one.

The IT and compliance overheads are huge for banks. They really have to be of a certain size.

If a few of us got together to set up a customer-centred bank tomorrow, it would be very small and completely unviable.

Brendan
 
It's a tough one.

The IT and compliance overheads are huge for banks. They really have to be of a certain size.

If a few of us got together to set up a customer-centred bank tomorrow, it would be very small and completely unviable.

Brendan

true ... and maybe more approriate for a history forum... but the destruction of the old National Bank ( biggest Irish Bank when the ENglish Arm was factored in ) was as big a banking scandal as Anglo..... The English arm was the 5th biggest bank in London and 7th in the UK and a member of the clearing system -- yet sold for 13mm in 1966 ( the real estate alone was worth twice that)
 
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