What's the best bank in Ireland?

pjbarnes16

I will soon be moving to Ireland and I wanted to ask for advice on which bank I should open an account with. I just need a standard account and of course I'm not too keen on paying fees. Any suggestions?

Red Alert

they're all the same. i'm with BOI and i'm not very happy with them but not unhappy enough to go to the bother of changing to anyone else.

YeAh!

Each bank has different areas in which they excel I spose. Ulster Bank have a great ad campaign at the moment and extremely enticing with all their 'no fees' etc. I'm with Permenant TSB. I had to transfer money to a bank in England. What I was purchasing was £599.99 which is €866 as i checked on xe.com. They tell me that it converts to €886 (is this right, for them to convert currencies and ad €20) and I was also charged €30 for tranferring the money.

unnameduser

i have several accounts due for business / personal use etc etc .As far as im concerned they are nothing but a pain in the ass.

Do it fashioned way and keep your money under your mattress and if ya need a loan go in and steal the money from the banks.

( PS i have no experience with Ulster bank)

ergonomics

I was with Bank of Ireland and had a lot of trouble before eventually closing my account to go with AIB who I have had no problems with.

The three main problems I had with BOI follow. Just before I started college they kept offering me a loan so I eventually decided to get a loan with them equal to my maintenance grant. I met the loan officer and explained that in a week I had to pay €1000+ in rent so needed an answer quick. He promised a quick answer. I rang him numerous times each day over the next few days and the day before my rent was due (and I had left him messages reminding him of this) he tells me my loan had been refused but he had been too busy to tell me. Thankfully it my rent got paid so I shrugged it off.

In January I started a new job which paid by cheque. I contacted BOI about getting automatic clearance on my wage cheques as they were taking 8 days to clear. Taking 8 days to clear is insane for a start. They said I could get automatic clearance but I had to pay interest until the cheque cleared. I wasn't willing to pay interest for 8 days so I left it. I was then relating this to my sister (who is no longer a college student) and she said she gets automatic clearance and doesn't pay any interest. Why should I pay if she doesn't have to?

A few months ago I decided to get a Laser card just for the novelty. Went back to BOI as I was still with them. They had been repeatedly offering me a credit card with a large overdraft but I don't trust myself so I wanted the Laser. They told me I couldn't get one without parental permission. That was the last straw. I am an adult, ok 18, but an adult. I've been offered a loan from them and a credit card but I can't get a Laser card without parental permission? That's idiotic.

Frankly I think they're awful as a student bank and wouldn't go with them again if they were offering to pay me!

MOH

The Irish financial regulator (www.ifsra.ie) publishes regular surveys comparing costs. This is their January survey of Irish current accounts:
Personal current account cost survey

Nightwish

I'm with BOI simply because they were the only bank my employer would deal with, when I got my first job, all those years ago. I'm happy with them for now, but in the future, when I'm thinking about a mortgage and the likes, I'll definately be shopping around.

@ergonomics, was it BOI in Kilkenny you were dealing with? Their loan officer kept my bf waiting for over a week to let him know whether he had gotten his car loan and also when I first asked for a laser card they told me I couldnt get one because I didnt have my savings with them (I have an SSIA with the credit union). However I got my mother involved (she knows people in the bank) and I got my laser card.

ergonomics

Yeah it was them! When in Kilkenny all my dealings are now with the Credit Union as they got me my loan. Everything else goes through my college's AIB branch.

Lockster

My advice would be to stay away from the big two, that is Bank of Ireland and AIB. They have such a monopoly that they don't really care about the small current account customers and will eventually do something to annoy you. I moved to Ireland seven years ago from the UK and I am still amazed at the attitude of the big banks towards their customers here. I would recommend looking at either permanentTSB (who I am with now), Uslter Bank or NIB. They seem to be keen to grow and look after their customer where possible.

Hotblack Desiato

I've been with NIB for a long time and I'm happy with them. Free banking, no hidden charges, no minimum balance required. Their online service was pretty good before the Danske takeover, it's now the best around (and it's Mac and Linux friendly)

Savman

I'm with Bank Of Ireland and by jaysus do I hate them. I will change eventually

YeAh!

Savman wrote:

I'm with Bank Of Ireland and by jaysus do I hate them. I will change eventually

"I will change eventually"....Sure thats what everyone says and nobody ends up changing banks and everybody just puts up with a terrible service. Theres no time like the present!!

Savman

I'm working on it! :o

fifth

Am with BOI and don't have any problems with them. Fee's are ok.

Might look into NIB!

Sonnenblumen

pjbarnes16 wrote:

I will soon be moving to Ireland and I wanted to ask for advice on which bank I should open an account with. I just need a standard account and of course I'm not too keen on paying fees. Any suggestions?

People's view of a Bank will come down to a critical experience, invariably a negative which will lingers for life but will force switching at the time. Generally though, people bitch about banks and the banks know all this but key is that most customers do nothing but mouth off. Since my student days I've tried most of the main banks, their Customer service leaves lots for improvement. I've even successfully sued one for poor service, currently with ptsb both personal + business (its not really a bank- no cheque clearing facilities). Would not jump up and down about them, recent de-regs about moving bank might help improve things. Much more visibility now on bank charges with fewer catches, that said it might start customer churn which could be bad for retail customers.

No experience with NIB, recent PR looked interesting though, but they're working off small base? Things might change more when RBOS commences retail banking early next year.:cool:

Dec McC

AIB probably

Sizzler

AIB are marvellous, just got a statement off them today to tell me they were charging me 80e a mth in interest on a loan I had :mad:

Apart from that they are decent for services and products they have, they just arent great at saving you money, fees etc.

shoegirl

I've been with most of the banks. AIB and BOI do have the most branches and the service in BOI has dramatically improved in recent years, but they are also very expensive.

Permanent TSB seem ok - I had a "Choice" account with them back in the 90s, and they were ok but very slow to clear cheques etc. Also they weren't always the most helpful.

Ulster I haven't banked with but their offerings at the moment are good and they have opened quite a few new branches.

I now bank with NIB, who really are an excellent bank to deal with. There is the odd teething problem and I find sometimes laser transactions slow to appear, but their online banking is really very good and on the new packages free banking pretty much is free. The only snag is that they don't have many branches in Munster so if you are moving to Cork/Kerry outside of Kilarney/Cork or Fermoy, then Ulster might be a better choice.

Kivun Sotilas

I am using AIB Bank right now purely because they did not need me to have a utility bill in my name as proof of address, they accepted a PPS letter. I'd just moved to the country and the bills take over a month to arrive.

They have been good so far but I haven't been hit with my fees for the last few months yet. Only then I can decide. Does anyone know if it is true that you are charged just for looking at your internet bank? I heard that from someone but can't imagine how they would justify that. I couldn't find anything about it in their fees booklet either.

Ulster Bank have no internet banking on a normal personal account I was told.

Bank of Ireland takes about 2 weeks to send you your card and account details.

I tried to join Permanent TSB but I didn't know I had to make an appointment to open an account so beware of that (I'd taken the morning off work for it so it was a waste of time)

These are reasons why I didn't join the others. I think they all have pretty bad customer service. Especially on the phone.

MOH

No, you don't get charged just for looking at your online account.

You do get charged (think its 15c or so) for making online payments, even if they're to another AIB account.

Kivun Sotilas

MOH wrote:

No, you don't get charged just for looking at your online account.

You do get charged (think its 15c or so) for making online payments, even if they're to another AIB account.

Ahh cheers, I didn't think it was possible they would charge me just for looking but wanted to make sure incase I end up with like hundreds of views or something.

DK47

was with aib and they were a disaster. just sighed up to halifax last week, staff in branch were very nice and helpful. online banking very good, you have freedom setting up and canceling direct debits and standing orders. day to day banking is free. ie atm usage, debit card usage. and they dont use a laser dedit card its a visa debit card. you can use abroad!!. halifax is the way to go. and ther are open 9 to 5 weekdays and 9 to 12 on saturday. customer service open 7 day by phone. they are very unique:)

andrew1977

I'm with Permanent Tsb, cannot fault them and the free banking charges saves a few quid every year.
I was with AIB and in my opinion not a great bank to be with , high charges for everyday banking and not the most helpful when enquiring about a loan,customer services etc.
Moved to TSB about 3 years back and will be sticking with them.

bmaxi

Kivun Sotilas wrote:

Ulster Bank have no internet banking on a normal personal account I was told.

Who told you that? I have a personal account with Ulster Bank and I use Internet banking all the time. AFAIK ulster Bank do not charge for Internet banking, I have never seen any charges on my account.You do have to maintain a certain minimum amount in your account, I think it's about €200. Nothing would persuade me to have any dealings with AIB or BOI, particularly after last years rip off revelations.

skywalker

Kivun Sotilas wrote:

I am using AIB Bank right now purely because they did not need me to have a utility bill in my name as proof of address, they accepted a PPS letter. I'd just moved to the country and the bills take over a month to arrive.

They have been good so far but I haven't been hit with my fees for the last few months yet. Only then I can decide. Does anyone know if it is true that you are charged just for looking at your internet bank? I heard that from someone but can't imagine how they would justify that. I couldn't find anything about it in their fees booklet either.

Ulster Bank have no internet banking on a normal personal account I was told.

Bank of Ireland takes about 2 weeks to send you your card and account details.

I tried to join Permanent TSB but I didn't know I had to make an appointment to open an account so beware of that (I'd taken the morning off work for it so it was a waste of time)

These are reasons why I didn't join the others. I think they all have pretty bad customer service. Especially on the phone.

Lol. dont know who told you that but its not true. They also have a type of current account that not only has no fees but pays you interest instead. Dont know the exact name of it. I recently switched to them as it seems the best deal currently.

gamblor101

I have to second NIB. Free banking and the best internet banking that I have seen.

Tiesto

I'd have to agree with the concensus here, stay away from Bank of Ireland.
I finished my studies and was in full employment 3 months. they refused me a loan of 600 euro!! So i said to myself, fek em. they wont be getting my mortgage in future... so i left them and switched to Permanent tsb last week.. They have a switching team which take care of the transition..

311

I find the online banking with AIB very good, I've set up a direct debit myself online without any signatures etc.

I think the online part of things is essential these days and AIB seem to have it sorted nicely.

the_syco

Being with AIB at least the last 10 years. No complaints since then, except for one job were a cheque took 4 days to clear (it was from another bank). Aside from that, I can get money out from the various cash machines, Post Office, Banks, etc. Also the online system is pretty cool, esp as I can send money online to other accounts, even to my Credit Union.

There's always being an AIB bank nearby me (Leixlip, Carlow, Naas, etc), so I'll be sticking with them for some time yet.

byte

I'm with AIB, and find them OK for the most part.

Their online system is fantastic. Also there are no fees if you use your Laser and pay a bill via Online Banking at least once a month (with currenta account anyway).

mcaul

Depends on what type of service you want.

If you want full service and instant contact with your branch by phone then AIB & Ulster Bank are the best. - All others use call centres. (not sure if BOI have switched back to direct branch dialling)

AVOID Halifax - they are cheap for a reason. It is easier to pull a tooth out that get in contact with the branch. - Call centre staff will block all attempts to put call through. - Very much aimed to basic services only.

NIB offer different levels of service from Free to monthly fees, so probably has the best overall package. Only letdown is lack of branches. Also has best credit card package. As mentioned above, their internet platform is superb.