Moving to Ireland - Which Bank? + building credit

Montymud

I am moving back to Ireland from England and basically I am looking for the best bank to use. My sister swears by Bank of Ireland but my husband wants AIB. I am a recent graduate so I will definaltey be looking for a graduate account and I have all my transcripts as proof.

Now whatever bank I go with I will have to build up a credit history as I have never had credit in Ireland. I want to buy a house in the next three years. Has anyone got any advice that they could offer me about the best way to build up a credit history please? Thanks

Jet Black

In term's of bank it depend's. Some bank's will offer free transaction's, direct debit's, an interest rate on the balance etc. It depend's with your looking for.
Check out www.itsyourmoney.com (sorry cant put the link in) to compare account's.

To build up a credit history you will need to have a loan or credit card. They will show up on the irish credit bureau when the bank search for you and it will show you are able to manage your money and make regular payment's.
A loan might even be hard to get if your new to ireland and you probably dont need one.
If i were you i would open a savings account with a bank that you have to pay a fixed amount every month whatever you can comfortably afford and not make withdrawls from.
It will be in your favor when you apply as you will have saved a bit of money for a deposit and you can manage your money.


(Know this wont help but a funny thing I was told by my manager year's ago, he told his son to buy home appliance's from ESB on a finance plan to build a credit history. His son bought some small thing's he could easily afford. He got a mortgage anyway. Not sure if it was because of this though)

robbie_998

oh well clearly you havent heard of Robbie_998's bank,

Located in the heart of it all (clondalkin) and money is accessible only during the week after 5pm, closed all day before hand and i demand weekends off

we do not provide loans, overdrafts etc.
there is always the possibility of your money going missing which we cannot take responsibility for.
we do not have a customer help line.
we are not regulated by the financial regulator.

all terms and conditions apply :P

joemccarthy6

I deal with A.I.B. bank and I find them very helpfull, but I'm sure they can't be much of a differance with any bank. It is well worth thinking about opening an account with a Credit Union as well as I find them very very good.
Happy Banking

pow wow

I went with Bank of Ireland when I moved (back) to Ireland, as PTSB wouldn't allow a laser card on my account until I'd been resident again for x number of months, which was impractical as I was working full-time. I understand their reasons for it but I'd deposited the cash from the sale of my house in the UK into the account as well as having a regular salary paid in and it wasn't viable for me not to have a card on the account (after being used to paying for everything by card in England!).

I switched out to BOI who gave me one right away with no hassle.

Montymud

Thanks guys, you have all been really helpful. I am defiantley going to do the credit union thing aswell. Perhaps pay in 10 euros a week or something. We seriously considered the bank of Robbie_998 however we thought it best to go with AIB :P

Your right Mask, we don't need a loan. We have a regular income and a loan is definatley not needed. We just want to buy a house in about three years time so we want to try and get our credit rating started. Someone else suggested a store card then use it for something I actually have th cash for, pay for it with the store card then put the cash on the store card to pay it off. That sounds like a good idea but realistically I believe that to start with we may find it hard to be accepted get a store card given a total lack of credit history. I just don't know where to start!

craichoe

robbie_998 wrote: »

oh well clearly you havent heard of Robbie_998's bank,

Located in the heart of it all (clondalkin) and money is accessible only during the week after 5pm, closed all day before hand and i demand weekends off

we do not provide loans, overdrafts etc.
there is always the possibility of your money going missing which we cannot take responsibility for.
we do not have a customer help line.
we are not regulated by the financial regulator.

all terms and conditions apply :P

Not a tied agent of Irish Life PLC :P

*EDIT* assuming you were using your crazy fast i can't understand you voice.