PTSB making it harder to dodge quarterly fees

Rock Steady Edy

Will switch the PTSB account to an Explorer Account and instead of taking out €80 cash once a week or so will just put lots of small purchases on the debit card to cancel out the effect of the monthly fee. Seems daft to me but if that's the game they want you to play... I also checked in branch and they confirmed no specific monthly minimum lodgment or balance was required.

Although by default we also have a current account by having switched our mortgage to KBC anyway, I think I'd miss having a cheque book for the occasional electrician / plumber job and a reasonable branch network.

christy c

Did anyone go through the process of closing their credit card? What was involved?

Woshy

ILikeBoats wrote: »

If it's a joint account, do both parties need to be present to switch it over do you know?

Yep! or you'll have to bring the forms home for your partner to sign. We were able to just get it done and dusted there

Keano

christy c wrote: »

Did anyone go through the process of closing their credit card? What was involved?

I'm moving mine to KBC too. They will look after it for me.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

KBC switch done and dusted, no issues once all the documents were sent in. Opened within a few days of the last document being sent in. Very pleased with updates from the support team. Contactless and Google Pay have worked flawlessly the last few days, not a single declined transaction. I would guesstimate 1 in 3 (or 4) of our PTSB contactless payments were getting rejected/declined. I actually stopped using contactless recently as it would get declined so often. Cards were replaced and money in the accounts, so it is some PTSB issue.

Very pleased with the switch, help available very quickly on their helpline.

Trying to move my BOI Credit Card now is proving difficult. Wait times on BOI helpline are ridiculous.

Edit: Thought I would add - I sent a cheque via post at 1pm and I was happily surprised to see it lodged (not cleared of course) into my account the next morning.

Iamhere

I moved from PTSB to KBC over a year ago while their app looks the part it has very limited functionality around standing orders.

You cannot edit an existing SO and at the moment you cannot select a payment date at the end of the month.

Rock Steady Edy

Iamhere wrote: »

I moved from PTSB to KBC over a year ago while their app looks the part it has very limited functionality around standing orders.

You cannot edit an existing SO and at the moment you cannot select a payment date at the end of the month.

Have you found any of the website functionality or other limitations of the bank any worse than PTSB?

Given 1 year of use are there any other reasons you might recommend not to switch, or are you generally happy with the service?

Iamhere

I use standing orders quite often that's why I focused on it.

I still have a PTSB current account as it's one of the old free switcher accounts so can still compare both.

The log in of the KBC app can glitch every few months and you need to ring the helpline to reset, not a deal breaker.

Besides the above the app it good, staff are helpful, I have no great love for PTSB as a bank, if PTSB were going to charge me I'd be of to KBC in a flash!!

Walter Knight

Icsics wrote: »

Regular Saver in KBC is 2.1%

Buy a wheat for all your money and just sow the seeds in April or May in your trusting land. Each seed will give you at least 60-80 wheat seeds in August – September ( on average). It`s 6000-8000% . Do not bother me with petty 2.1% KBC Pee Nuts. I vote for wheat :^))) Disclaimer: It`s not a financial advise. It`s a joke, but one can always find some truth in any joke :^)

Webmechanic

Just set up an account with N26 but when trying to change details with my direct debit with Pure Telecom was told that they only accept 'Irish bank accounts'. Now, I know that SEPA rules mean I'm supposed to be allowed to use any European bank and that SEPA should mean things like direct debits should be enabled to work through BIC and IBAN (Ireland was meant to be fully-compliant by 2014), but do they have a leg to stand on here? Is there anything I can do to force the issue or am I stuck with needing to use a pillar bank for direct debits?

Ten Pin

AFAIK they have to accept any payment account within SEPA. But you'll probably have to lodge a complaint and if they still won't accept it, go to ombudsman, unless anyone else knows a quicker way to convince them to comply.

In the meantime, you could open a basic bank account in an Irish bank to keep direct debits up to date. Or else try the credit union which will probably have online access.

Bob24

Webmechanic wrote: »

but do they have a leg to stand on here?

Legally they absolutely don’t, and if they insist in refusing your IBAN they are in clear breach of SEPA regulation.

Now the process to enforce the regulation in Ireland isn’t great to say the least, and thus they are probably counting on people giving up and not getting their rights enforced.

Webmechanic

To be honest, I signed up with them over the telephone and I can't remember if I had to give my details as BIC/IBAN or account no. and sort code, so I'm not sure if they're operating under SEPA or not. Getting clarity through email (my preferred way of communicating with service companies) is proving to be a little bit like drawing teeth. I'll keep plugging away till I get a complete picture with them but I guess I'll also have to look at another account in the interim for direct debits.

Who is the regulator for this sort of thing anyway?

Bob24

Webmechanic wrote: »

Who is the regulator for this sort of thing anyway?

For consumer complaints, the CCPC is supposed to be your port of call: https://www.ccpc.ie/

The general consensus is that they haven’t been very helpful to people who contacted them though (in my case, they didn’t even even bother coming back to me on my SEPA issue after being chased several times).

Depending on what type of business/organisation you are dealing with, there might also be other entities you can talk to which have oversight on them (for exemple if it is a government body, Solvit and the EC can intervene). With a telco you might try Comreg, but they will possibly tell you that they are not the competent authority for SEPA complaints.

Webmechanic

Pure came back to me just now, they do use IBAN and are going to 'try' and set it up with my new details. I suspect it's a problem with their software having the prefix hard-coded to IE. I'll let you know if it works. Thanks for the help and advice.

Bob24

Webmechanic wrote: »

Pure came back to me just now, they do use IBAN and are going to 'try' and set it up with my new details. I suspect it's a problem with their software having the prefix hard-coded to IE. I'll let you know if it works. Thanks for the help and advice.

Two possibilities from previous experience:
- either the issue is just that their front end software is preventing them from entering a non-Irish IBAN (but their backend systems actually support it). In that case they can if they want address your issue immediately by manually updating you IBAN on the backend (and relatively easily change the front end and lift that restriction in the future)
- or (as was the case with the NTA until recently) their front end takes IBANs but actually converts them to legacy Irish sort codes and account numbers to feed them into a backend system which is not SEPA compliant. In that case there would be no quick fix and accepting non Irish IBANs would mean a complete upgrade/replacement of their payment processing system (i.e. a large project for them)

Webmechanic

Two possibilities from previous experience:
- either the issue is just that their front end software is preventing them from entering a non-Irish IBAN (but their backend systems actually support it). In that case they can if they want address your issue immediately by manually updating you IBAN on the backend (and relatively easily change the front end and lift that restriction in the future)
- or (as was the case with the NTA until recently) their front end takes IBANs but actually converts them to legacy Irish sort codes and account numbers to feed them into a backend system which is not SEPA compliant. In that case there would be no quick fix and accepting non Irish IBANs would mean a complete upgrade/replacement of their payment processing system (i.e. a large project for them)

Hopefully it's just the first as nobody's going to throw extra money into a backend development budget for the sake of one customer. Thought about Revolut but that would just be the same problem with a different prefix and all the extra uncertainties that a British-based bank would bring for the foreseeable future. Might be looking at ESB, KBC or PTSB's Explore account.

Bob24

Webmechanic wrote: »

nobody's going to throw extra money into a backend development budget for the sake of one customer

For the sake of one customer, no. For the the sake of operating within the boundaries of the law, maybe :-)

bonjurkes

Did anyone switch to AIB? I was planning to switch KBC but lack of SO and DD viewing/modifying options and being cashless bank thing turned me off so now I am considering AIB.

I don't mind keeping €2500 in my account but they say it has to be in current account, which means this balance will be available to my debit card and if my balance goes below 2500 by accident they will charge me with maintenance fee. Is there a workaround to keep this money in current account but not available to debit card?

Wheety

bonjurkes wrote: »

Did anyone switch to AIB? I was planning to switch KBC but lack of SO and DD viewing/modifying options and being cashless bank thing turned me off so now I am considering AIB.

I don't mind keeping €2500 in my account but they say it has to be in current account, which means this balance will be available to my debit card and if my balance goes below 2500 by accident they will charge me with maintenance fee. Is there a workaround to keep this money in current account but not available to debit card?

Standing orders are visible/editable with KBC.

Bob24

bonjurkes wrote: »

Did anyone switch to AIB? I was planning to switch KBC but lack of SO and DD viewing/modifying options and being cashless bank thing turned me off so now I am considering AIB.

I don't mind keeping €2500 in my account but they say it has to be in current account, which means this balance will be available to my debit card and if my balance goes below 2500 by accident they will charge me with maintenance fee. Is there a workaround to keep this money in current account but not available to debit card?

I did switch to AIB. For now the one drawback I have found compared to PTSB is that you can’t save non Irish SEPA payees and or make transfers to those payees on the mobile app. You have to do once off transfers on the website and using a card reader, which is a pain if you do it regularily - PTSB is definitely better in that use case.

But besides that no issue - I now have Apple Pay and the app tends to be nicer.

On your debit card question, I don’t know if any practical way of doing that. Maybe ask the bank.

Walter Knight

bonjurkes wrote: »

Did anyone switch to AIB? I was planning to switch KBC but lack of SO and DD viewing/modifying options and being cashless bank thing turned me off so now I am considering AIB.

I don't mind keeping €2500 in my account but they say it has to be in current account, which means this balance will be available to my debit card and if my balance goes below 2500 by accident they will charge me with maintenance fee. Is there a workaround to keep this money in current account but not available to debit card?

Probably you should concider AIB Basic Bank Account : https://aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/basic-bank-account as there is no minimum amount requirement.The only question for me so far: is it possible to convert the only account that I have into a Basic one. Or I have to close it, open the Basic then, and set up all DD and SO as from new, which is a pain...

Bob24

Walter Knight wrote: »

Probably you should concider AIB Basic Bank Account : https://aib.ie/our-products/current-accounts/basic-bank-account as there is no minimum amount requirement.The only question for me so far: is it possible to convert the only account that I have into a Basic one. Or I have to close it, open the Basic then, and set up all DD and SO as from new, which is a pain...

I see basic bank accounts (all banks have them) being mentioned on a few threads to avoid fees.

I think it should be clarified that they are based on government policies essentially aimed at having banks provide free service for the less well off. So while they are technically available to anyone there are two massive restrictions to target them towards specific demographics: you can’t lodge more than €19,240 per year AND you can’t hold any other current/payment account with any Irish bank.

Those 2 things combined will make them unsuitable for a lot of people.

More about those account here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/banking/standard_bank_account.html

JTMan

Good point Bob24.

For the record, not all banks have basic current account. EBS don't because their standard product is free. The same seems to apply to N26 and Revolut too.

Iamhere

Wheety wrote: »

Standing orders are visible/editable with KBC.

You cannot edit a standing order online with KBC

Bobeagleburger

Iamhere wrote: »

You cannot edit a standing order online with KBC

correct

Fishy1

Iamhere wrote: »

You cannot edit a standing order online with KBC

Am very confused, as I asked about this in the Talk To KBC forum & got this reply from one of the KBC reps:

Good Morning Fishy1. Thanks for your message. On our online and mobile banking you will have full control to set up and delete standing orders. Direct debits are under full control of the originator so to block or query a direct debit on your account you can free phone our customer services team 24 hours a day on 1800515253 or abroad on 0035316646100. Thank you again. RK

Wheety

Yeah, I was wrong to say editable. You delete and set it up again.

Walter Knight

Bob24 wrote: »

I see basic bank accounts (all banks have them) being mentioned on a few threads to avoid fees.

I think it should be clarified that they are based on government policies essentially aimed at having banks provide free service for the less well off. So while they are technically available to anyone there are two massive restrictions to target them towards specific demographics: you can’t lodge more than €19,240 per year AND you can’t hold any other current/payment account with any Irish bank.

Those 2 things combined will make them unsuitable for a lot of people.

More about those account here: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/banking/standard_bank_account.html

Still no answer to my question Bob24

Bob24

Walter Knight wrote: »

Still no answer to my question Bob24

Actually the answer is in the link I provided I think: "You must not hold another payment/current account with a bank in the Republic of Ireland. If you already have a current account, and your bank has informed you that it will be closed, you are eligible, but you will need to bring proof of this with you when opening a new account."

The way I read it, unless you have no account or your bank has formally informed you that your existing account will be closed, you can't open a basic account. This seems to rule out conversions.