Ulster Bank to drop fee-free banking (from July 2013)

Gumbo

Heard it on the news this morning.
Stating that the charge will be €4 per month unless 3k is lodged per month.

One Source

fleet

Baxtards!

I'll switch so, on principal, as they're not hitting their UK customers with the same.

Who does that leave me with for the most hassle-free free banking?

fleet

Gumbo

fleet wrote: »

Baxtards!

I'll switch so, on principal, as they're not hitting their UK customers with the same.

Who does that leave me with for the most hassle-free free banking?

fleet

Only TSB i think.
Free transactions once you lodge €1500 per month. Will be swapping myself.

Gumbo

From AAM :

Waiver 1: (Ways to avoid fees)
Lodge 3,000 EUR into your account between the first and last business day of each calendar month.
OR
Waiver 2: (Ways to avoid fees)
Maintain a cleared balance of at least 3,000 EUR each and every single day.

Waiver 2 has a large opportunity cost attached.

Waiver 1 can be circumvented by wiring money into and out of the account during the month in excess of 3,000 EUR.

For some, you are best switching to PTSB.

_Kaiser_

Not surprised really after the mess last year and their poor response to it.

I was actually in the process of switching my a/c from AIB when things went pear-shaped so luckily I wasn't affected as there was no money going through the new account yet, but I was very interested in how they'd respond to it.

Unfortunately for many people switching isn't as easy as is made out as generally the new bank will only take on the current a/c.
But if (like me) you also have a loan, credit card, overdraft and maybe a mortgage, you'll be left dealing with the original bank for those.

Needless to say the a/c was closed again shortly thereafter.

€4 per month is still not as bad as AIB though who charge 20/30c per transaction now on top of a fee for not having €2500 in your a/c at all times

fifib

will it just apply to new accounts open from now on or will it be put onto existing accounts? I have a PTSB current account for some years and when they introduced the fees it did not effect my account but only new accounts opened since it was brought in

Scortho

Weren't fees meant to come in last year from ulster but they delayed them as part of the compensation from the hassle they caused to their customers.
In fairness at 4 quid a quarter they aren't the most expensive and it's pretty easy to avoid it, unlike aib and boi.

advertsfox

Great, so earn at least €50K a year or be damned - I joined them due to no fee's. TSB will be getting my business.

unclebill98

I think its a mistake to bring fee's in however i'd agree its the lowest I've seen. I'm sure PTSB will follow suit.

Private Joker

Could you not just withdraw a thousand euros and re lodge it three times?

Raminahobbin

Private Joker wrote: »

Could you not just withdraw a thousand euros and re lodge it three times?

That's my plan! Some carefully timed online transfers between my accounts :P

homer911

Scortho wrote: »

Weren't fees meant to come in last year from ulster but they delayed them as part of the compensation from the hassle they caused to their customers.
In fairness at 4 quid a quarter they aren't the most expensive and it's pretty easy to avoid it, unlike aib and boi.

Per month, not per quarter

murphaph

AFAIK all banks in the EU must fully implement SEPA (and essentially ditch national sorting systems) by February 2014.

Once this is in place people can look at banks outside Ireland for their day to day banking. Banks will have to accept an IBAN/BIC combination instead of account number/sort code and work with that.

Hopefully that's how it'll work out anyway.

GerardKeating

Scortho wrote: »

Weren't fees meant to come in last year from ulster but they delayed them as part of the compensation from the hassle they caused to their customers.
In fairness at 4 quid a quarter they aren't the most expensive and it's pretty easy to avoid it, unlike aib and boi.

€4 a month, not per quarter.

Scortho

homer911 wrote: »

Per month, not per quarter

Sorry misread that!
Right in that case bye bye ulster bank!

unkel

Raminahobbin wrote: »

That's my plan! Some carefully timed online transfers between my accounts :P

Exactly!

Transfers between personal Euro accounts within the Eurozone are free too.

Rabodirect.ie recently gave me a free €30 for setting up an account with them. I guess there will be transfers!

unkel

If only I could set up an automatic transfer of €0.10 every minute

In - out - in - out - shake it all about

handlemaster

I had a missed call from them the other day regarding setting up a current account. Nice to know they had my best interests are heart knowing this was coming in :mad:

WeleaseWoderick

Any idea whether this charge will be incurred on uFirst and uFirst Gold accounts too in addition to the current monthly charge?

BuffyBot

handlemaster wrote: »

I had a missed call from them the other day regarding setting up a current account. Nice to know they had my best interests are heart knowing this was coming in :mad:

Eh? *cocks head*

Banks are corporate entities. They only best interest they'll ever have is maximising revenue.

unclebill98

WeleaseWoderick wrote: »

Any idea whether this charge will be incurred on uFirst and uFirst Gold accounts too in addition to the current monthly charge?

Good question.

OU812

Just called them.

If you have a ufirst account you will not incur an additional charge.

It's €4 per month as opposed to €1 per week, i.e. €48 Vs. €52 per annum. Which will be collected quarterly.

There is no transaction charge planned at this time.

The €3,000 per month cannot be in one transaction unless there is a history of that happening.

Gott

Crap, just opened an acc with Ulster Bank as I might be moving North next year.

Maybe I should tell them I changed my mind ...

munchkin_utd

It looks like I'll be reactivating my Bank Of Ireland account which has been dormant now this ages which was on the cards anyhow now that one of the main advantages of Ulster Bank which was a branch in my town back in Cavan is now due to be shut after 110 odd years of operation.

Anyhow, the basic BOI model is "pay as you go" with no minimum threshold (yet!) so the more you use it the more you pay, and conversely for low transactions its cheap and for no transactions completely free.
Which to be honest is actually a great deal as the less you pester them and use their services the less you pay which is only logical.

unclebill98

Am i right in saying that some BOI/AIB customers have been charged more in a qtr than what UB are charging in the year?

chasm

Ulster bank have info up on this now.

http://www.ulsterbank.ie/roi/personal/daily-banking/current-accounts/useful-information/monthly-fees.ashx

I had been holding out to see whether it would be worth my while staying on once they announced last year that they would be introducing fees but as i receive 0% interest on my account as it is and it's a pain in the backside that the nearest branch is a 40 mile round trip - I'm out! Bye UB, you managed to keep me for almost 12 months!

munchkin_utd

unclebill98 wrote: »

Am i right in saying that some BOI/AIB customers have been charged more in a qtr than what UB are charging in the year?

If a financially illiterate person is not aware of their charges, debts, interest rates and other information relating to their affairs then of course its possible.
To be honest, if you dont look at your statements or circulars from the bank and know/see what charges you are incurring or about to incur then theres nobody to blame but yourself.

On the pay as you go model BOI charge 28c for each transaction OR as they say "If you have more than 40 transactions per quarter, the Flat Fee option of €11.40 for up to 90 transactions is the better one for you."
11.40 a quarter is less than Ulster Bank are going to charge.

Or in my case, I rarely ever make a transaction (cant remember the last transfer to be honest) so essentially I will have a free account with Bank of Ireland on the pay as you go model.

petersburg2002

I have a current account with both BOI and Ulster bank. BOI were charging me to lodge money and to pay the mortgage each month. So i'll just put the money into Ulster bank in future to get the free banking (by lodging 3000 a month).

JTMan

murphaph wrote: »

AFAIK all banks in the EU must fully implement SEPA (and essentially ditch national sorting systems) by February 2014.

Once this is in place people can look at banks outside Ireland for their day to day banking. Banks will have to accept an IBAN/BIC combination instead of account number/sort code and work with that.

Hopefully that's how it'll work out anyway.

SEPA will mean that you can pay your UPC/ESB/Utility direct debit bill from a non-Irish Eurozone bank account. This will mean it will be much easier to use a non-Irish current account from 1 February 2014.

However, it is not clear as to how many non-Irish banks will allow non-resident current accounts and also debit cards.

Hence, SEPA might mean much bigger current account choice. It also might not mean that! Time will tell.

americandriver

I was chatting with a representative on Ulster Bank's website. It was quite obviously tech support from a non English speaking country. I only wish it have been time-stamped. It was over 5 minutes between replies. My question didn't get answered at all. It's a bit long, but I thought you all would get a kick out of it. I replaced my name with "me" in the interest of privacy. Enjoy:

Thanglun: Hi, you're chatting with Thanglun. How may I help you?
"Me": hello I have questions about the new ulster bank fees
"Me": do they only apply to users in the republic of ireland?
"Me": also, do they apply to new current account customers or to all current account customers?
"Me": the 3000 lodgement requirement: does that mean that you could theoretically make 6 tranfers back and forth from two account throughout the month to make 3000 euros?
Thanglun: Hi "Me",
"Me": like 6 transfers of the same 500 euros?
Thanglun: Let me check this for you.
Thanglun: Thanks so much for waiting, I appreciate your patience.
Thanglun: "Me", thank you for being online.
Thanglun: The new monthly maintenance fee applies to the following personal current accounts.
Current Account
Standard Account
Dual Account
Facility Account
Current Plus Account

Thanglun: However, there is not fees for any transfer made online.
"Me": so you can for example move 500 euros back an forth between two accounts 6 times to avoid a monthly fee?
Thanglun: I am very sorry to hear that...
"Me": ?
Thanglun: Is that transaction done today?
"Me": no
"Me": I'm talking about a hypothetical situation
"Me": where if you only have 500 euros in your account and you move it 6 times, that equals a lodgement of 3000 euros
"Me": wouldn't that mean you'd have no monthly fee?
"Me": do you understand?
Thanglun: "Me", the fees is a fixed amount and this will not affect the number of transaction you have made.
"Me": I only have 500 euros in my current account. How do I avoid the monthly fee.
"Me": ?
Thanglun: Thanks so much for waiting, I appreciate your patience.
Thanglun: "Me", we have the scenarios that - A customer lodges €400 to their current account on 6 August 2013, €1,400 on 15 August 2013 and €1,300 on 21 August 2013. The monthly maintenance fee is not applied to their account because they met the conditions of Waiver 1. In other words, they lodged at least €3,000 between the first day and last business day of the calendar month.

Thanglun: Please click here for other scenarios
"Me": What if I have 500 euros, then transfer 500 euros to another account, then transfer 500 euros again...6 times...I'll have lodged 3000 euros total
"Me": ?
Thanglun: Sure, that is a good question.
Thanglun: Let me clarify this for you.
Thanglun: Thanks so much for waiting, I appreciate your patience.
Thanglun: "Me", I have clarified your query.
Thanglun: To get the waiver, you account will need get a credit of a total €3,000 though there may be any debit.
Thanglun: However, in the case you have 500 euros, then transfer 500 euros to another account, then transfer 500 euros again...6 times this does not count to lodged 3000 euros.
"Me": so if I have 3000 credit and 3000 debit because of transfers, then I have a lodgement of 3000?
"Me": or does it have to be 6000 credit and 3000 debit?
Thanglun: Please allow me a moment to check our resources.
"Me": 6 times 500= 3000
Thanglun: Thanks so much for waiting, I appreciate your patience.
Thanglun: To ensure the lodgement has cleared, customers should leave up to five business days for any lodgements to clear as, in order to meet the criteria for Waiver 1, the lodgement must be cleared by the last day of the month.
A business day means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or Irish bank or public holiday where we are open for business. If you make lodgements on a non-business day (Saturday, Sunday, public or bank holiday), they will be recorded on your account on the next business day.

Thanglun: For Waiver 2, the charging cycle runs from the day after the third Friday of one calendar month to the third Friday of the following calendar month.
To ensure the lodgement has cleared, in order to reflect an up to date balance, customers should leave up to five business days for any lodgements to clear as, in order to meet the criteria for Waiver 2.
The lodgement must be cleared by the last day of the charging cycle
Thanglun: Where a customer does not meet Waiver 1 or Waiver 2, the monthly fee will be deducted from the account 21 days from the last day of the charging cycle.


"Me": but 6 lodgements of 500 euros equals 3000, right? but the debit would be 3000 also. Is that ok?
Thanglun: To meet this waiver, you need to maintain a minimum cleared balance of €3,000 in your current account for each charging cycle.
"Me": ok but for waiver 2 in my example, 6 lodgements of 500 euros equals 3000, right? but the debit would be 3000 also.
Thanglun: "Me", for further assistance on the waive fee the best way forward is to call our telephone banking.
Your adviser has concluded this chat.

zbluebirdz

Going to be quite annoying for people who are paid near the end of the month.

Quoting from UB's site:
"To ensure your lodgement has cleared, you should leave up to five business days for any lodgements to clear as, in order to meet the criteria for Waiver 1, the lodgement must be cleared by the last business day of the month."

If you're like me, who get paid on the 26th of the month, you'd could potentially be charged €4 for not having lodged 3,000+ by the last business day of the month*. This could mean in February, you'd be charged €4. Then there's a slight chance in April, June, September and November that you'd also be hit with another €4 ...

* (and where you don't keep >3,000 in the account).