Changes to Credit Card Terms

bryanodowd

As per your recent notice: http://personalbanking.bankofireland.com/fs/doc/wysiwyg/css075447-pca-payment-hierarchy-press-notice-v011-140114v2.pdf

Can you claify the effect for customers?


(i) Cash advances: There is no interest free period for cash advances or cash advance fees and we will charge interest from the date the cash advance transaction is posted to the Account, unless your Account is in credit to fully meet the cash advance and the cash advance fee.

This suggests a cash advance fee is charged even if in credit to meet the "advance"? I.E. charging customers to withdraw their own money now?  


(ii) Cross Border Handling Fees: There is no interest free period for cross border

handling fees and we will charge interest from the date the transaction is posted

to the Account.

If I made a purchase in GBP on the 1st day of my billing month there is 30 days interest on it by the time I get my bill?

And what if account is in credit when make the purchase?


(iii) Purchases: If you repay us everything you owe us on the Account as shown
on a monthly statement by the payment date we specify in the monthly
statement, we will not charge you interest on any purchases shown in that
monthly statement. Otherwise, you forfeit the interest free period and we will
charge interest, on each purchase, from the date of the transaction.


Simlar to above, transaction on 1st day of period, if not paid by payment date, gets 30 days interest for that month. so 60 days by next bill?


Finally, if/when I switch cards ue to these changes - will I recieve a letter from yourselves to avoid paying stamp duty twice?

Bank of Ireland: Elaine

[font=Arial", "sans-serif]Hi bryanodowd,[/font]

[font=Arial", "sans-serif]Thank you for contacting us on Boards.ie.[/font]

[font=Arial", "sans-serif] Changes to the terms and conditions of personal Credit Card will come in to effect on the 18th of March. These changes relate to the removal of the interest free period on cash advances and also an amendment to the hierarchy of payments. There has been no change to the interest free period on Purchases. To address your queries clearly, we have marked them in order of your questions posed to us.[/font]

(i)No change has occurred as to when a cash advance fee is applicable. This fee is currently not charged if the account is in credit of the full amount of the withdrawal, at the time the transaction posts to the account. You can also avoid cash interest by pre-loading your card as no interest is applied if the account is in credit and fully meets the cash advance value and the relevant fee.

[font=Arial", "sans-serif](ii)  There has also been no change as to when a Cross Border Handling fee is applicable. This has always been charged whether the account balance is in credit or not. Also a Cross Border Handling fee that is applicable to a non euro purchase still carries the same interest free period. However, what has changed is that a Cross Border Handling fee on a non euro cash advance will no longer have an interest free period and will incur cash interest charges from the date the transaction is posted to your account. Therefore the change to Cross Border Handling fee is only applicable to non-euro cash advances.[/font]

(iii) There is no change to how interest is calculated for purchases. If you clear your account in full by the due date, you are not liable for purchase interest. However cash interest will now apply from the date the cash transaction is posted to your account until payment which covers the full amount of the cash advance, is received and cleared. Interest is charged daily and applied monthly. We have also amended the hierarchy of payments.  From the 18th of March a payment from a customer will be applied to the highest interest rate transactions such as cash advances first.

[font=Arial", "sans-serif]We do hope that you decide to remain with us as we hope these changes will benefit our customers. However, if you do wish to close your Credit Card account, the Government stamp duty will be charged upon closure as it is applied in arrears. Once this is paid to ourselves, we can provide you with what is known as an exemption letter for the Government Stamp Duty. You can provide this to your new bank to avoid paying this tax twice in one year.[/font]

[font=Arial", "sans-serif]We hope we have helped clarify your concerns.[/font]
[font=Arial", "sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Arial", "sans-serif]Thanks,[/font]
[font=Arial", "sans-serif]Elaine[/font]

bryanodowd

in 1) above, again you state "fully meets the cash advance value and the relevant fee" but in the same reply say "This fee is currently not charged", so what is the fee to cover if no fee is charged?

ii) your notice does not make it clear this is only for cash advances - not purchases - in foreign currency. You may want to re-issue the notice clearly stating this is the case.

Appreciate the reply.

Bank of Ireland: Elaine

Hi bryanodowd,

Thanks for coming back to us.

Apologies if my initial response was a little unclear. Just to clarify, the term 'relevant fee' relates to the possible addition of a cross border handling fee if the transaction is a non Euro cash withdrawal. A cash advance fee is a separate fee and is not charged if the account is in credit of the full amount of the withdrawal, at the time the transaction posts to the account.

We greatly appreciate your feedback on this notification and we have forwarded your comments to the relevant area.

We hope that our explanation here has made this change more transparent.

Thanks again,
Elaine

board_stiff

Bank of Ireland: Elaine wrote: »

Hi bryanodowd,

Thanks for coming back to us.

Apologies if my initial response was a little unclear. Just to clarify, the term 'relevant fee' relates to the possible addition of a cross border handling fee if the transaction is a non Euro cash withdrawal. A cash advance fee is a separate fee and is not charged if the account is in credit of the full amount of the withdrawal, at the time the transaction posts to the account.

We greatly appreciate your feedback on this notification and we have forwarded your comments to the relevant area.

We hope that our explanation here has made this change more transparent.

Thanks again,
Elaine

Hi Elaine,

I just received my notification about changes to the terms and conditions and it doesn't differentiate between non Euro cash withdrawls and non Euro transactions. 
However from what you state above it appears that in the below 2 scenarios I would only pay interest on the cross border handling fee in scenario


Scenario 1: I use my credit card to pay for dinner while on Holiday in New York. The bill is $20 and I am charged a cross border handling fee of €0.20.
I do NOT pay interest on the cross border handling fee as this is a non Euro purchase and NOT a non Euro cash withdrawl.

Scenario 2: I use my credit card in an ATM in New York and withdraw $20. I am charged a cross border handling fee of €0.20. I DO pay interest on the cross border handling fee as this is a non Euro cash withdrawl.


Can you confirm that this is correct?

Bank of Ireland: Billy

board_stiff wrote: »

Bank of Ireland: Elaine wrote: »

Hi bryanodowd,

Thanks for coming back to us.

Apologies if my initial response was a little unclear. Just to clarify, the term 'relevant fee' relates to the possible addition of a cross border handling fee if the transaction is a non Euro cash withdrawal. A cash advance fee is a separate fee and is not charged if the account is in credit of the full amount of the withdrawal, at the time the transaction posts to the account.

We greatly appreciate your feedback on this notification and we have forwarded your comments to the relevant area.

We hope that our explanation here has made this change more transparent.

Thanks again,
Elaine

Hi Elaine,

I just received my notification about changes to the terms and conditions and it doesn't differentiate between non Euro cash withdrawls and non Euro transactions. 
However from what you state above it appears that in the below 2 scenarios I would only pay interest on the cross border handling fee in scenario


Scenario 1: I use my credit card to pay for dinner while on Holiday in New York. The bill is $20 and I am charged a cross border handling fee of €0.20.
I do NOT pay interest on the cross border handling fee as this is a non Euro purchase and NOT a non Euro cash withdrawl.

Scenario 2: I use my credit card in an ATM in New York and withdraw $20. I am charged a cross border handling fee of €0.20. I DO pay interest on the cross border handling fee as this is a non Euro cash withdrawl.


Can you confirm that this is correct?

Hi board_stiff, 
 
Thanks for the post. 
 
Scenario 1: I use my credit card to pay for dinner while on Holiday in New York. The bill is $20 and I am charged a cross border handling fee of €0.20.
I do NOT pay interest on the cross border handling fee as this is a non Euro purchase and NOT a non Euro cash withdrawl. 
 
Yes this is correct as long as you clear your next statement (bill) in full by the due date. 

Scenario 2: I use my credit card in an ATM in New York and withdraw $20. I am charged a cross border handling fee of €0.20. I DO pay interest on the cross border handling fee as this is a non Euro cash withdrawl. 
 
Yes this is correct, the change in terms and conditions state that Cash Advances and the relevant fees no longer avail of an interest free period thus interest will be charged.
 
I hope this helps
 

Billy

Sheldons Brain

Therefore the change to Cross Border Handling fee is only applicable to non-euro cash advances

.

As noted above by other posters above, the information you sent out does not make this clear. Sloppy wording, I think.

Bank of Ireland: Elaine

Hi Sheldons Brian,

Thanks for getting in contact with us here on boards.ie.

We apologise if the recent insert has caused confusion. We appreciate all our customer's feedback and comments and we will forward these to the relevant department.

I hope that the information given above has helped made these changes more transparent and if we can help you with anything else, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks,
Elaine  

peannoir

Agree with all customers of BOI who have posted regarding this.  Glad to know I was not the only one confused particularly by the reference to the 'cross border handling fees' - including the 3 BoI reps I spoke to today.

Finally got some sort of clarity on that issue - basically if Credit Card is used as an ATM card outside of EuroZone, the cross border handling fee will incur interest immediately and therefore will not be included in the interest free period (56 days) 

  However, purchases made online, e.g ebay, amazon etc, or purchases made using credit card in shops, bars etc, outside the Eurozone, will not incur these new charges.  Phew. 

 As for the rest of the charges, well I am not surprised.  I have closed my BOI account, held since I was 7 years old but am unfortunately stuck with BOI credit card for the moment.  I fully expect that there will be charges placed on entering banks door ways in the not too distant future. :mad:  

Hopefully this information is correct.  It came from BOI Visa rep today and I am going into my local branch tomorrow to explain it to them!!