Before i Close my Bank of Ireland Account?

Bank of Ireland: Graham

Hi fester,

Normal practice in the account switching process is that the customer deals solely with the new bank. The new bank will then liaise directly with the old bank, with no need for the customer to communicate with their old bank.

It's a possibility that your account with us has already been closed.

Thanks for getting in touch,
Graham

fester

Hi Graham,

If the systems were working, then no, there would be no need for me to communicate with my old bank. Unfortunately in this case the system is not working and I need to follow up to find the problem.

The request was sent to BOI to process the switch. On the 20th Dec, a AIB representative contacted BOI to request a status update on the switch. Only today did BOI reply saying that they never received the request.

At this stage I would prefer to go into a BOI branch and close my account 'manually'. I would switch my direct debits manually too. Could you please let me know if I could do this in any branch?

Thanks,
Paul

cgc5483

Hi,

I'm a BoI customer of over 20 years I can say that I am astonished by the way these fees have been introduced and the manner it which it is being implemented.

Now I can understand why it may be necessary to introduce charges but the manner in which it was introduced has been shocking. Like I guess a lot of people I seldom read newspapers except at a little at weekends. Even if I do one of the things I would never pay attention to is the ads especially ads regarding banks.

Why weren't other means used. For instance the new Mail feature when you login online?

On hearing today that fees were introduced I rang Banking365 to enquire as to what plan I'm on. I have a lot of transactions on a monthly basis and was dismayed to hear that not only have I been paying per transaction (I currently have 76 transactions in this billing period or over €20), I have no way of changing this until the next billing cycle which is the 20th or 21st of Feb.

There is already an outcry here in this forum of people that are changing banks because of the introduction of fees but this will only get considerably worst. I'd imagine that the majority of people aren't aware of the re-introduction and are in for a nasty shock when the charges are added in February.

Maybe BoI don't care about the loss of business and as has been spouted already you have complied with the legislation in terms of notifying your customers. However, if in fact maybe you do care about your customers you can maybe take a little bit of money out of your advertising/PR budget and spend it in a much better manner by actually properly informing your customers as to these important changes.

Furthermore, as a gesture of goodwill you should at least allow customers to retrospectively change the plan they are on. Surely it would have been much fairer to actually look at a customers account and place them on the most appropriate plan based on their transaction history over the previous 12 months than just lumping everyone on the Pay as you Go plan (the irony is that it isn't even a Pay as you Go plan; its a Pay up to 3 months later).

I'm sure it's not going to make a difference if i say I'm moving my account but if the attitude of BoI remains as is I will certainly seriously consider it. I certainly will change my house and travel insurance when due for renewal.

Bank of Ireland: Linda

Hi fester,

You can manually close your account in a Bank of Ireland branch. Although the only way to change over your direct debits manually will be to cancel them with Bank of Ireland and then contact each company individually with your new details.

Alternatively you can request for AIB send the request again.

We are sorry to hear that you are changing banks and if you have any questions about our products or services in the future, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks
Linda

Bank of Ireland: Linda

Hi cgc5483,

Thank you for taking the time to post and providing us with the feedback and suggestions.

Just to clarify, we have not reintroduced fees; we have changed the qualifying criteria for the No Transaction Fee Offer. The fee plan customers are on would have been selected when your account was first open based on what you would have advised would be your usage on the account.

Your feedback has been forwarded on and thank you again for taking the time to post.

Thanks
Linda

Rory1

I saw a lot of conversation online and in the media (TV, radio and Newspapers) about BOI changing criteria for free bank banking. As a BOI customer, I'm not happy about it but can understand reasons and feel there was plenty of notice to customers.

Bank of Ireland: Linda

Hi Rory1,

Thank you for taking the time to post. As always we do forward customers feedback, whether positive or negative, to the relevent department.

Thanks
Linda

LifeBeginsAt40

I've always paid fees. It was made very clear to me the day I opened my BOI account.

Why do some people think BOI have "reintroduced" fees? They never went away.

Bank of Ireland: Graham

Hi LifeBeginsAt40,

Personal current account transaction fees have not changed. However, the qualifying criteria for our No Transaction Fees offer has. You can find out more in the Fees and Charges section here.

Thanks for your post,
Graham

cookie1977

LifeBeginsAt40 wrote: »

I've always paid fees. It was made very clear to me the day I opened my BOI account.

Why do some people think BOI have "reintroduced" fees? They never went away.

There was criteria that if they were met allowed you to have free banking with no fees. The criteria at the time was very easy to meet so essentially a lot of BOI customers did not ever have to pay fees. But the criteria have been made tougher to meet resulting in people having to pay fees where previously they have never had to.

LifeBeginsAt40

cookie1977 wrote: »

There was criteria that if they were met allowed you to have free banking with no fees. The criteria at the time was very easy to meet so essentially a lot of BOI customers did not ever have to pay fees. But the criteria have been made tougher to meet resulting in people having to pay fees where previously they have never had to.

I make several international transactions each month from BOI to UK banks. I do not at the moment pay a fee that is visible to me. Obviously I pay a "fee" via the exchange rate, as we all do when ever we pay for items in other currencies.

Ulster Bank for example make a clear up front charge of €12.70 per international transaction. So that's not free banking either.

BOI is a business, they need to change their business model to suit the times. Just as every business does to survive.

Times change, businesses change and BOI advertised these changes as required by the banking regulations.

If you think life is better at Ulster Bank, then by all means change banks, but believe me there isn't "free" banking there either.

cookie1977

LifeBeginsAt40 wrote: »

I make several international transactions each month from BOI to UK banks. I do not at the moment pay a fee that is visible to me. Obviously I pay a "fee" via the exchange rate, as we all do when ever we pay for items in other currencies.

Ulster Bank for example make a clear up front charge of €12.70 per international transaction. So that's not free banking either.

BOI is a business, they need to change their business model to suit the times. Just as every business does to survive.

Times change, businesses change and BOI advertised these changes as required by the banking regulations.

If you think life is better at Ulster Bank, then by all means change banks, but believe me there isn't "free" banking there either.

I dont do any international transfers so I dont incur costs there. I switched to Ulster Bank in November in plenty of time before fees were introduced after switching from AIB in June to BOI, both times due to fees being introduced or changes to T&C's. I'll keep moving for free banking until all banks are charging, then I'll pick the cheapest/best which currently I think is Danske Bank but we'll see in a while. For the moment though I'd prefer none of them to take my money until I have absolutely no choice.

dahamsta

To be honest, that's about as pedantic as BOI saying they're not reintroducing fees. I believe UB are doing the same soon but as of now they still have free banking in the way most people understand it.

There's very little point in ranting about BOI changes here though, it's a monolithic organisation with the turning circle of an oil tanker. The only way to teach them a lesson is to move your accounts asap. Doing so will also lower the risk, slightly, of Ireland going back to the dark days of the AIB/BOI cartel.

LifeBeginsAt40

cookie1977 wrote: »

I dont do any international transfers so I dont incur costs there. I switched to Ulster Bank in November in plenty of time before fees were introduced after switching from AIB in June to BOI, both times due to fees being introduced or changes to T&C's. I'll keep moving for free banking until all banks are charging, then I'll pick the cheapest/best which currently I think is Danske Bank but we'll see in a while. For the moment though I'd prefer none of them to take my money until I have absolutely no choice.

Absolutely agree, it's the way you have to play the game these days. Same with utility suppliers. Websites in the UK like Uswitch and Utility Warehouse (I think) are very very popular for this exact reason.

It is a pain in the bum I agree, but it's the only way to get the best deal. Keep moving around as offers appear and disappear.

cookie1977

We've bonkers.ie over here which is useful but I prefer doing my own research (which takes longer but at least it's fully independent and fully up to date).

LifeBeginsAt40

cookie1977 wrote: »

We've bonkers.ie over here which is useful but I prefer doing my own research (which takes longer but at least it's fully independent and fully up to date).

There isn't really one bank account to suit all. I like BOI for international transactions. I liked Ulster Bank as they had Visa Debit cards ages before BOI.

You are a shining example to many of us to get off our backsides and find the best deals.