Applying for Laser/Debit Card???Worlds Worst Bank....

hand_of_god

is....AIB.

I applied for a Laser card...with the AIB on monday.After waiting an age to get through to their appalling customer service centre...i was eventually(after the initial bout of mis information)told that my application will take 7-10 working days to go through....and if successfull(ha!)...i would receive the card after this time.

I was also informed that there would be a credit check.

Now then......Firstly...after ringing AIB 24 hour banking...i was informed by one of their standard clueless customer service agents that i would have to apply through my branch.After querying this.....and put on hold for 3/4 mins....i was then told by the same person......that i was in fact correct....and that they would transfer me to their sales dept...in order to commence application.

After being transferred i was told.....about the 7/10 processing period and also informed that there would be a credit check.

Now...why the hell should i have to apply for a debit card???It's my money....surely it's up to me.....to spend it as i see fit.What's this..."if you're successfull"....all about???Credit checks????utter nonsense!!

Can anybody recommend a good bank in Ireland?
I've just about had it with the AIB.

This is the final straw.......and comes on the back of what happened last week.
Guess what...i go to the cashpoint one day last week....put in my card...and look to withdraw €480 euros.Guess what comes out of the machine?.....€80.Put the card back in...check the balance....€480 deducted from the account.Ring AIB 24 hour straight away...and inform...they say machine probably outta money...and to go away and check my balance in 30 mins...and i should be recredited.
Now luckily for me there's a sound guy in the queue behind me........he's pretty much shaking his head as well.Anyway he decides to put in his card....and make a withdrawal......guess what happens???.........my €400 comes out with his money!!!

Now can you imagine what would have happened...had i walked away b4hand???...somebody else would have walked away with my €400....you reckon the bank would have believed me.......??

This and the Laser card episode...i am furious......so seriously...can anybody recommend a good bank in Ireland....where you don't have to put up with this garbage.

BuffyBot

Now...why the hell should i have to apply for a debit card???It's my money....surely it's up to me.....to spend it as i see fit.What's this..."if you're successfull"....all about???Credit checks????utter nonsense!!

I think most, if not all, banks in Ireland will credit check you before issuing a Laser Card.

As for the ATM incident, I can imagine stuff like that being rare, but liable to happen to any ATM.

shoegirl

You're not the first person I've heard of to have laser card woes.

Back a few years ago my laser card was sucked up and when I rang my bank to have it replaced they sent me out a standard ATM card. When I queried this they told me it was because my account had gone severely in the red earlier that year and "customer lending" (BOI's euphemism for "crap customer") was looking after my account. I basically told them where to go as this was no reason to pull down my level of service. Eventually they capitulated and sent out the correct card. That was Bank of Ireland, not AIB.

I had a friend who recently wanted to get a laser card and was told no, because she doesn't have an "income." She's on a relatively low income for various reasons, and doesn't lodge that much through her account and eventually demanded to see the manager and eventually after whinging that her sister was a doctor (I'm always amused by people who think that having "respectable" relations makes them respectable too) was allowed have a card. This was AIB.

Now the problem seems to be with laser cards is that the clearing system seems to be the same as for credit cards. Which means that you theoretically have to have an "overdrawable" account. And if not this means that you cannot grant cards on that account type. Considering that Laser was brought in as an ideal way to pay small amounts, it seems ridiculous that now its become a card exclusively for the well off. The original intention of laser cards was to make credit style clearance available without a credit card. Most banks will not let you have a card now unless you are reasonably creditworthy as there is a strong likelihood of the card overdrawing the account. Problem seems to be the clearing system to be honest.

In fairness AIB treat small personal customers very badly. I'm currently using a cashsave account, which is just really a glorified cash account, but they are charging me more than what I was charged when I had a full whack BOI current account. Because of this, I am hoping to open a National Irish Bank Freebank account next month. This will save me about 60 per year in fees.

Imposter

I tried getting a Laser card while in college and AIB wouldn't let me have one. They would let me have a credit card even though I didn't want one! When asked why I couldn't have a laser they blamed the clearing system. When I mentioned that it was very similar to the credit card clearing system they couldn't answer. Being a customer of AIB for 4-5 years wasn't enough for them either. Seems like everyone has a bad rating until they can prove otherwise even for something as seemingly simple as a laser card.

Nuttzz

I have a dual account with Ulster bank and they have never charged me a bank charge ever! I dont think there is much difference between any of the banks TBH.

shoegirl

A dual account is technically a cash account so its unlikely they will charge you.

Yes, there is a huge difference between the banks. For example AIB charge for bsaic cash accounts while other banks offer free banking for current accounts - thats a huge difference in my opinion.

Also some of the smaller banks are more integrated than bigger ones. So customer service can be better.

Victor

Originally posted by Imposter
I tried getting a Laser card while in college and AIB wouldn't let me have one. They would let me have a credit card even though I didn't want one!

Ah, but they get to make extortionate amounts of money out of you with the credit card.

Michelangelo

eventually after whinging that her sister was a doctor (I'm always amused by people who think that having "respectable" relations makes them respectable too) was allowed have a card. This was AIB.

What has her sisterss profession got to do with her? What a joke.:rolleyes:

Specky

I have a dual account with Ulster bank and they have never charged me a bank charge ever! I dont think there is much difference between any of the banks TBH.

Ulster bank is owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, it's not an Irish bank so expect better levels of service, lower charges and an all round better banking experience.

shoegirl

Originally posted by Michaelangelo
What has her sisterss profession got to do with her? What a joke.:rolleyes:

I know, I thought it was ridiculous too, but this is Ireland and some people still believe that having a succesful relative confers a certain degress of that success onto them! Of course, from a financial point of view, this is ludicrous. But my friend seems to believe it counts for something!

bambam

myself and the better half moved all our accounts/cards over to ulsterbank last year. Haven't looked back since. Now we don't pay a single penny in charges, this is verses the €15/20 per quarter with AIB. I highly recommend Ulsterbank