Delays in updating balances and erratic balance activity.

jiltloop

Hi,

 

I have a very frustrating issue with a joint account which myself and my partner have open. We use the joint account for paying household bills, rent and paying for food shopping etc. The problem is it can be nigh on impossible to ensure that there are sufficient funds in the account for direct debits as sometimes transactions can take up to a week to appear on the account. Usually we get a very helpful text to inform us when there are insufficient funds in the account and we can just transfer money in to it immediately.

 

However on the 15^th of December a direct debit of just €6.99 bounced as we had insufficient funds in the account. This is incredibly frustrating as we are aware that this recurring direct debit happens every month on the 15^th and we had checked the balance the day before and had roughly €50 in there to cover it. The problem is that 3 transactions which had been processed on the 13^th of December did not show up on the account until the 15^th which caused the insufficient balance.

 

We received no text to warn us of the insufficient funds and we received a charge of €12.70 (almost double the amount of the actual direct debit amount). I would have no issue with this if we could rely on the balance that is shown when we check banking365. If the balance that you provide us is unreliable and not up to date how can you justify refusing a €6.99 direct debit and charging us €12.70? Just a few weeks ago I withdrew €300 from my current account and a couple of days later this withdrawal disappeared from my account only to reappear a week later, that’s just one example, this happens frequently.

 

This is all the more frustrating as we have been extremely careful with our banking for the last few months because we are preparing for a mortgage application and saving for a deposit for a house. We fear that this ridiculous situation is an unfair blip on our banking records of the last 6 months which will work against us when it comes to any mortgage application.

 

We have both always banked with yourselves, me for almost 30 years and my partner for 20 years and these balance inaccuracies are making banking less than a smooth process and when it comes to choosing which bank to decide to engage with for our mortgage application it does not endear Bank of Ireland to us at all.

 

I am requesting that you reverse this charge and remove the unpaid transaction from the bank account record. I think this is a more than reasonable request when Bank of Ireland are at times unable to present us with an accurate reflection of the balance available on our accounts.

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi jiltloop,

Thanks for contacting us here on Boards.ie.

I'm sorry to hear you are unhappy with the information available on 365 Online. The balance displayed online is the most up to date information at that time and is updated as card transactions are processed by retailers. We are aware that some retailers can be slower at processing card payments which can cause a delay with it appearing on your transaction list. We would recommend keeping a note of purchases, in particular ones made with retailers who take longer to process, and check your account for them to be debited. 

If you wish to raise a complaint regarding this process or to request the unpaid fee is reviewed, please see our Customer Complaints Process here. 

Thanks
Tara O 

jiltloop

Hi Tara,

 

Thank you for your reply. My issue isn’t so much with payments being delayed appearing on my transaction list, it’s with the balance not being correct and being so changeable. I think it is a substandard service when you cannot reliably tell a customer at any one time what exactly their balance is and then refuse direct debits for small sums of money. Other banks seem to be able to update the balance after a transaction whilst still waiting for a retailer to fully process a payment before the transaction appearing on the statement. Why are Bank of Ireland unable to do this?

 

Myself and my partner have tried a few times now to rectify this with yourselves, this was the last attempt. It seems that Bank of Ireland would rather hold on to the €12.70 and lose thousands of euro in business over the next 30 years because when it does come to getting a mortgage we will most likely be closing our 5 or 6 accounts with yourselves and moving elsewhere.

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi jiltloop,

As 365 Online is a live system, the balance will change as transactions are processed throughout the day. The majority of card transactions will appear immediately on your account, this will be listed under 'Today's Transactions & Transactions in Progress' when logged into 365 Online, but this is dependent on how the retailer is processing them. Just to mention, contactless transactions made with your card can take a bit longer to appear on your account. 

I am sorry to hear you're considering moving your accounts and please be assured your feedback has been forwarded to the appropriate teams.

In relation to the unpaid fee, we don't have account access here on Boards.ie and so we're unable to review this for you here. You can send an Ask a Question from 365 Online Service Desk or raise a complaint to have any fees and charges reviewed. 

Thanks
Tara O