Strategies for minimising bank fees

DerryRed

Yesterday I got a letter from BOI informing me of a quarterly fee of €67.48, of which €50.12 was accounted for by ATM/Debit card usage. Upon further research I see that I am being charged €0.28 every time I use my card.

Given that AIB have similar charges and Ulster Bank are probably going to be introducing them in the near future, I've been thinking about ways in which to minimise these transaction costs.

One way would be to always get cash back every time I pay with my debit card. I hate having money lying around, however I'm guessing this will only count as one transaction.

Would be interesting to hear how others are minimising the number of ATM/Debit card transactions they make.

Pablo Sanchez

Use your credit card for all transactions and that way you will pay very little in the way of fees. Just make sure you clear your CC 100% every month!

dobsdave

On the Bank of Ireland forum, you mentioned you were checking out the credit union.
How did that go?

DerryRed wrote: »

Yesterday I got a letter from BOI informing me of a quarterly fee of €67.48, of which €50.12 was accounted for by ATM/Debit card usage. Upon further research I see that I am being charged €0.28 every time I use my card.

Given that AIB have similar charges and Ulster Bank are probably going to be introducing them in the near future, I've been thinking about ways in which to minimise these transaction costs.

One way would be to always get cash back every time I pay with my debit card. I hate having money lying around, however I'm guessing this will only count as one transaction.

Would be interesting to hear how others are minimising the number of ATM/Debit card transactions they make.

DerryRed

dobsdave wrote: »

On the Bank of Ireland forum, you mentioned you were checking out the credit union.
How did that go?

I looked into it but it is quite limited e.g. they have a limited number of Bill Pay options and they have no online banking for account with multiple people (my wife and I have a joint account).

I've been looking at Permanent TSB and they have minimal charges compared to BOI and AIB. I'm in the process of moving my account over there.

NIMAN

By my rough calculations you are making approx 180 ATM transactions in 90 days, maybe try to cut them down?

Take out enough money to last you the week, instead of small amounts often.

JTMan

DerryRed wrote: »

Yesterday I got a letter from BOI informing me of a quarterly fee of €67.48, of which €50.12 was accounted for by ATM/Debit card usage. Upon further research I see that I am being charged €0.28 every time I use my card.

Given that AIB have similar charges and Ulster Bank are probably going to be introducing them in the near future, I've been thinking about ways in which to minimise these transaction costs.

One way would be to always get cash back every time I pay with my debit card. I hate having money lying around, however I'm guessing this will only count as one transaction.

Would be interesting to hear how others are minimising the number of ATM/Debit card transactions they make.

Options:

1) Keep a minimum balance of 3k in your account at all times and get zero fees.
OR
2) Switch to Ulster Bank who currently have zero fees.
OR
3) Switch to PTSB who have no minimum balance requirements for zero fees. You just have to use your card a lot and you do.
OR
4) Open up a KeyTrade current account. Zero fees, interest on your current account and no fees for wire transfers. Down side is no debit card but you could combo this with an Irish current account.

DerryRed

NIMAN wrote: »

By my rough calculations you are making approx 180 ATM transactions in 90 days, maybe try to cut them down?

Take out enough money to last you the week, instead of small amounts often.

I averaged it out that you need to limit yourself to 7-8 transactions per week to stay within the 90 limit. Personally I don't like the idea of taking cash out unless I'll be using it as my house was broken into a few years back and I'm not comfortable with having cash lying around the house.

As I said in an earlier post I think I'll take my business elsewhere, that doesn't charge these rates.

DerryRed

Fungus wrote: »

Options:

1) Keep a minimum balance of 3k in your account at all times and get zero fees.
OR
2) Switch to Ulster Bank who currently have zero fees.
OR
3) Switch to PTSB who have no minimum balance requirements for zero fees. You just have to use your card a lot and you do.
OR
4) Open up a KeyTrade current account. Zero fees, interest on your current account and no fees for wire transfers. Down side is no debit card but you could combo this with an Irish current account.

Thanks. I'll look into options 2-4. Option 1 won't work for me. Have already spoken with PTSB and looking likely I'll go with them.

wmpdd3

My credit union has free online banking, I would need to do a weekly transfer in to the account and I could process my payments from that account. The only issue is I have to get to their office and open up another account.

Dont forget BOI charge for credits, so for 12 weeks I have 2 credits per week and 1 credit every month.
Thats 27 out of 90 gone before I even take a penny out!!

DerryRed

Have setup a meeting with PTSB to get my account transferred from BOI. According to the person I spoke with in PTSB they've been inundated with calls this week from BOI customers looking to transfer.

wmpdd3

BOI seem to send out notification to all their customers of their fees the same week. AIB are the same, these weeks must be very busy for the PTSB.

Ivan.Drago

Am I right in thinking that you can load up your credit card (with a credit balance) and then use that as a debit card for ATM withdrawals and general transactions? No cash advance fees as the credit card will have a positive balance and no transaction fees due to it being your mastercard account and not your current account?