Bank of Ireland Business Banking Changes

newdigi

Hi,

My local branch this week stopped accepting business cash lodgements of less than €3000 in the priority bag and are now trying to force us into lodging anything less than €3000 into a lodgement machine.

I went in earlier in the week and the queue for the 1 machine was horrendous, so I went out to the 'public' machine in the main lobby and lodged the money into my personal account instead.

The net result is that having spoken to my accountant, I will be lodging all my business cash from now on into my personal account (i'm being forced to use a machine either way now, the difference being lodging into the business machine costs me money!), thus saving me in excess of €2000 in charges every year.


I've made this known to the manager and there really is nothing he can do about me lodging it into my personal account. Theres also nothing he can do about the changes either.

I wonder though will these cost cutting measures result in this particular branch taking a hit due to the many others who will presumably do the same as me, thus avoiding charges.

I suppose my question really is to BOI head office as to the logic behind increasing the minimum amount that can be lodged using a priority bag from €1000 to €3000.

Thanks

Bank of Ireland: Linda

Hi newdigi,

We understand your upset and will be passing on your feedback regarding this change. We are here to answer basic day to day customer service questions and we cannot go into detail on why policy changes are introduced.

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide your feedback.

Thanks
Linda

horse7

Bank of Ireland: Linda wrote: »

Hi newdigi,

We understand your upset and will be passing on your feedback regarding this change. We are here to answer basic day to day customer service questions and we cannot go into detail on why policy changes are introduced.

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide your feedback.

Thanks
Linda

hi Linda,  my son is in sydney and wishes to close his current account in dublin,  is this possible, and are there any charges incurred.

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi horse7,

Thanks for getting in touch.

There is no charge to close an account however, if there are any outstanding quarterly fees or interest due they would be deducted from the remaining balance. Your son can send a request in writing to the branch the account is held with. He can find the address here. He would also need to provide the details of where he would like the balance sent to. If it is a foreign bank we would need the IBAN, BIC/Swift, account holder's name and address and the foreign bank's name and city.

Thanks
Tara

horse7

Bank of Ireland: Tara wrote: »

Hi horse7,

Thanks for getting in touch.

There is no charge to close an account however, if there are any outstanding quarterly fees or interest due they would be deducted from the remaining balance. Your son can send a request in writing to the branch the account is held with. He can find the address here. He would also need to provide the details of where he would like the balance sent to. If it is a foreign bank we would need the IBAN, BIC/Swift, account holder's name and address and the foreign bank's name and city.

Thanks
Tara

Thanks for the info,is there a charge to transfer the balance to an irish bank?

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi horse7,

Just to clarify my previous post, the funds would only be transferred by the branch if the payment is going to a foreign bank. It is then at the discretion of the branch if there is a charge to do this. When a customer is closing an account and wants the funds lodged to another Irish bank, they would be issued a draft. The current charge for a draft is €2.40.

One option would be to transfer the balance to the other bank using 365Online prior to sending the request to close the account. Your son would need to leave enough to cover any outstanding fees or interest, if applicable.

Thanks
Tara

bobbg

newdigi wrote: »

Hi,

My local branch this week stopped accepting business cash lodgements of less than €3000 in the priority bag and are now trying to force us into lodging anything less than €3000 into a lodgement machine.

I went in earlier in the week and the queue for the 1 machine was horrendous, so I went out to the 'public' machine in the main lobby and lodged the money into my personal account instead.

The net result is that having spoken to my accountant, I will be lodging all my business cash from now on into my personal account (i'm being forced to use a machine either way now, the difference being lodging into the business machine costs me money!), thus saving me in excess of €2000 in charges every year.


I've made this known to the manager and there really is nothing he can do about me lodging it into my personal account. Theres also nothing he can do about the changes either.

I wonder though will these cost cutting measures result in this particular branch taking a hit due to the many others who will presumably do the same as me, thus avoiding charges.

I suppose my question really is to BOI head office as to the logic behind increasing the minimum amount that can be lodged using a priority bag from €1000 to €3000.

Thanks

Hi newdigi - it's just another example of how Bank of Ireland are foolishly introducing charges and cost/service-cutting measures that are only going to lose it business. I have come across 3 similar issues that just don't make any sense.
I started using the in-branch lodgement machine despite privacy reservations (there is no privacy using the machines in my branch with the general customer queue directly over your shoulder all turning round to look when the machine starts to beep loudly for you to introduce your cash into it). Just before Christmas I tried to lodge a sum of cash - the machine rejected the cash twice before retaining about half of it on the third attempt and rejecting the other half - the cash was retained not lodged and the machine told me to contact a member of staff. Because my branch has now got rid of all customer service desks, there was no one to flag this situation to and it was about 10-15 minutes before I could report it to anyone. I was told the cash would be retrieved from the machine that evening and it would be credited next day - trouble is the retrieved cash plus what was rejected didn't tally with what I believe I had put in the machine in the first place. The customer service manager was supposed to contact me about this .. never did, never has .. particularly to explain why a machine should retain part of cash and return the rest, leaving the total unverifiable at best. I flagged it to the bank's business advisor (there is no business manager in the branch anymore!), he said the bank would give me a 'concession' in relation to the disputed sum but some weeks later when I hadn't received it, he then told me that the bank had withdrawn all concessions and I wouldn't be compensated. Complained about this - still never heard from a customer service manager. Then I was told like you, that all lodgements under 3000 would now have to go through the lodgement machine which I had refused to use since this issue. Nobody from the bank has shown any real interest in addressing the issues here - there is no interest in engaging in customer service.
Similarly, I made an international european payment through banking online a month ago. The recipient hasn't received the funds despite the fact that the bank were provided with the correct IBAN etc. Now Bank of Ireland want to charge me to trace the payment!
These and other issues are the end of the line .. I've had enough. My business deposit account is on its way to another bank as we speak and the current account will be going later in the year. Shoddy service, shoddy systems and overpaid execs overseeing it all .. not for me!

newdigi

these changes are working out great for me actually.

i have been lodging all my notes into a personal account of mine since the changes were introduced.
i'm saving a fortune in bank charges as a result.
should have done it years ago actually.
yes its a complete pain having to lodge the money into a machine, but I would have to do the same thing if I were lodging to my business account. so seeing as I am now doing the work myself anyway, no point in me being charged for it.

another business I am involved in has bank charges in excess of €8k per annum, mostly on cash lodgements. They too have started to do what I'm doing.

I had no problem paying business bank charges prior to April 8th, because we got the bones of a service, with a private room to carry out our transactions. Now we get neither. so why should I pay for the privilege?

horse7

Bank of Ireland: Tara wrote: »

Hi horse7,

Thanks for getting in touch.

There is no charge to close an account however, if there are any outstanding quarterly fees or interest due they would be deducted from the remaining balance. Your son can send a request in writing to the branch the account is held with. He can find the address here. He would also need to provide the details of where he would like the balance sent to. If it is a foreign bank we would need the IBAN, BIC/Swift, account holder's name and address and the foreign bank's name and city.

Thanks
Tara

thanks Tara,he wants the balance made out us his parents, either a draft or irish bank account, and he will confirm in a letter.Is that in order.?

Bank of Ireland: Laura

Hi horse7.

That is correct. Your son can send his request to his account holding branch and they will be happy to arrange either a draft or for the funds to be transferred to an account. Please be sure that the account number, sort code and account name is provided if he is opting for a transfer.

For a list of all our bank addresses and locations, please see here.

If there is anything else we can help you with, please let us know.
Laura