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

petersburg2002

americandriver wrote: »

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.

In all fairness, the information made available on the Ulster bank website about the new fees (and how to avoid them) is both comprehensive and in plain English. So I won't be switching from them just yet.

murphaph

OU812 wrote: »

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

This conflicts with this document. It says you can lodge 3k and take it out the following week and it will count.

Lanshane

murphaph wrote: »

This conflicts with this document. It says you can lodge 3k and take it out the following week and it will count.

Thanks for that Murphaph. It's good to know that as soon as the 3K has cleared, it can be withdrawn immediately. However, I do not have another account set up to do this online. What I do have is an Ulsterbank ESavings account. Would it be possible to transfer the 3K from my Ulsterbank ESavings A/C to my current A/C and then back to my Esavings! It all seems crazy and slightly juvenile but better in my pocket!

Failing that, what would be a good online only account that would allow me to transfer the 3K back and forth and maybe earn a small bit of interest too?

murphaph

Rabo have good OK internet features. I use the German rabo but I bet the interface is similar. I have transfered between my Rabo.de and ulster bank actually (both ways) and it works fine. I imagine it would be even faster with rabo.ie

handlemaster

BuffyBot wrote: »

Eh? *cocks head*

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

or should that be bonuses

Crann na Beatha

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KeithTS

The €4 isn't a huge fee compared to other banks, its probably a bit lower, the bad point is they want a higher balance maintained in your account in order to avoid paying the few than other banks want.

Get off to Dublin bus and sign up for a travel card, last time I got mine they asked for no proof that I was in college or anything, its €15 for the year and with that you can change the account over to a student account with no fees, once you sign up for the student account they won't take you off it until you tell them you're no longer a student too so its , in theory, a once of payment.

unclebill98

Phoenix wrote: »

How do these charges compare to other banks operating in the Irish market?

I looked into it as it impacts me. If you use your account a lot its by far the cheapest option. Now in saying that if you get paid a ton each mid month your fine with most banks as you meet the min lodgment amount.

If you don't use your account alot then the BOI model is cheaper as its paid per usage.

For me, 4 euro a month is fair enough.

JTMan

murphaph wrote: »

Rabo have good OK internet features. I use the German rabo but I bet the interface is similar. I have transfered between my Rabo.de and ulster bank actually (both ways) and it works fine. I imagine it would be even faster with rabo.ie

Rabo do not offer current accounts in Ireland, just savings accounts.

unkel

Fungus wrote: »

Rabo do not offer current accounts in Ireland, just savings accounts.

Doesn't matter. You can still transfer money between an Ulsterbank current account and a Rabodirect.ie savings account to the tune of a total of €3k per month and still qualify for free banking. Transfers cost zero between euro accounts anywhere in the Euro zone

murphaph

Fungus wrote: »

Rabo do not offer current accounts in Ireland, just savings accounts.

I know. What's your point though?

aindriu80

I am unemployed at the moment and do have some savings. The €4/month for me is a disappointment. I don't have any real option but to pay the €4 month. They screwed up their system a while back, had to give out compo and thats why we have to pay now.

Dr Silly Bollox MD

Guide to AIB charges

Personal current account customers who maintain a minimum daily credit statement balance of EUR2,500 in the account for each fee quarter can qualify for maintenance and transaction free banking.

http://www.aib.ie/personal/home/Fees-and-Charges

Trhiggy83

4 euro a month is still a better deal than aib as they charge you for every single transaction you make online or in the bank. I just checked my fee advice slip and they charge for everything, its ridiculous.

Does anyone know if it is possible to close your aib current account but still hold onto your other accounts (eg savings,credit card,etc)

unclebill98

Trhiggy83 wrote: »

4 euro a month is still a better deal than aib as they charge you for every single transaction you make online or in the bank. I just checked my fee advice slip and they charge for everything, its ridiculous.

Does anyone know if it is possible to close your aib current account but still hold onto your other accounts (eg savings,credit card,etc)

Yes it is.

CharlieZeroOne

bastards. i dont have 3 grand, so ill have no choice but to pay this F****** fee.

so they basically want to make money off us, they want our 3 grand so they can invest it, gain interest off it.

all you folk that have 3k in the bank, or make 3k a month, fair play to ye, nice for some. the rest of us suckers are going to get shafted again.

bastards. i actually feel like punching somebody.

pclive

I just phoned them on 1800 303 069 and told them I will be closing my acount before the fees are introduced.

Going to move to Permanent TSB or KBC when they open a current account.

coffee_cake

That's a good point about switching money back and forth - I might do that

mp3ireland2

Any body know which "per transaction" bank is cheapest? I'm currently living in the uk but want to keep my Irish account for when I visit home or am buying online in euro's....prob 2 transactions a a month on average! I currently have 2 ulsterbank current accounts...kept one as a back up for when I lost my atm card I could transfer moeny to the other one online...was very handy when travelling for piece of mind! Also have a sterling account with them, no word of it happening yet with that....

unkel

bluewolf wrote: »

That's a good point about switching money back and forth - I might do that

Indeed. Once you've set up your accounts to transfer to, it should take no more than a few minutes do do the transfer online.

Sorry UB, you won't be getting a cent from me

mp3ireland2

unkel wrote: »

Indeed. Once you've set up your accounts to transfer to, it should take no more than a few minutes do do the transfer online.

Sorry UB, you won't be getting a cent from me

Could you do this from an UB savings to current account and then just have it go back to the savings account the next day? Set this up as an autmoated transaction every month? OR would it be safer to use a rabo direct account and set up automated monthly transactions from and too that?

keith_d99

I have a uFirst account for (€10) it more than pays for itself ...

Free Smartphone Insurance
25% back on Ticketmaster
1 Euro trip travel insurance for all the family

munchkin_utd

mp3ireland2 wrote: »

Any body know which "per transaction" bank is cheapest? I'm currently living in the uk but want to keep my Irish account for when I visit home or am buying online in euro's....prob 2 transactions a a month on average! I currently have 2 ulsterbank current accounts...kept one as a back up for when I lost my atm card I could transfer moeny to the other one online...was very handy when travelling for piece of mind! Also have a sterling account with them, no word of it happening yet with that....

I'm in the same position as you only I have maybe no more than a transaction or 2 a year.
Bank of Ireland is 28c per transaction so over a year barely a fiver in costs for you and for me is virtually a free current account.

The one thing I could do is put one of the parents (over 65) on the account and then it'd be free but to be honest now that the local branch at home is closing after 125years of existance, the Ulster Bank can swivel on it.
I'll transfer my irish slush fund somewhere else, most likely Bank Of Ireland.

northofwestend

Does anyone know if it's possible to avoid this charge by transferring over and back from a deposit account? For example if my salary was 2400 per month... and I then transferred over 600 from the savings then that would be 3000 lodged into my current account..wouldn't it?
I would then transfer back the 600 and do the same the next month.

If this isn't allowed sure all they would be forcing me to do then is move my deposit account to another bank where I would just do the same!

Anyone know?

unkel

Folks, look at the link murphaph posted. It clearly says:

Ulster Bank wrote:

7 If I lodge €3,000 and take it out the following week will
I be charged the fee?

No, as long as you lodge a total cleared balance of €3,000 between the first
day and the last business day of each calendar month you will not
pay the fee. It does not matter what withdrawals you make.

So transfer from and to any account, get money out of ATM and lodge in the branch, whatever. As long as you lodge a total of €3,000 per month
you don't pay the charge

Lanshane

unkel wrote: »

Folks, look at the link murphaph posted. It clearly says:



So transfer from and to any account, get money out of ATM and lodge in the branch, whatever. As long as you lodge a total of €3,000 per month
you don't pay the charge

Yes. It does not matter where the money comes from as long as 3K is lodged and cleared within the month. I too have an online savings account with UB and will be using it to feed my current account to satisfy waiver 1. I will then transfer it back to my savings account.

One question when making an electronic transfer like this:

Once I can see the transferred funds online in my account, am I correct to assume the funds have 'cleared' or is there a specific time I must wait before I swap money back into the savings account?

Mad carry on really.

Crann na Beatha

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Mimikyu

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murphaph

Trhiggy83 wrote: »

Does anyone know if it is possible to close your aib current account but still hold onto your other accounts (eg savings,credit card,etc)

Recently closed all my AIB accounts EXCEPT Visa card. You might temporarily lose access to the online banking for your credit card, but you can request it back and they'll happily do it. May not be the case if you are keeping a savings account open, but you possibly have no debit card associated with that account? In this case, you'll need to request a code card to be able to perform certain online actions (viewing your CC e-statements for example)

murphaph

munchkin_utd wrote: »

I'll transfer my irish slush fund somewhere else, most likely Bank Of Ireland.

May I ask why bother with an Irish slush fund as you live in Germany? I keep the absolute bare minimum (to service an outstanding mortgage) in my Irish accounts, the surplus being swiftly transferred to a German account.

With DKB (for example) you can withdraw cash in Ireland (and worldwide) at any ATM for free (with their Visa card) and in Ireland almost anywhere that accepts a debit card will accept a credit card, excepting the discounters possibly.

I wouldn't trust the Irish government not to "do a Cyprus" on us tbh. If I could move my mortgage payments to my German account I'd even do that. From next year my tenants will be paying into my German accounts as they'll need to provide an IBAN/BIC instead of sort codes.