Ulster Bank introducing transaction charges

rodge123

Wheety wrote: »

You need to have the Extra Current Account. Have to deposit €2,500 a month. Don't need to keep that balance.

That gives you 1.75% bonus on the Extra Regular Saving Account. Also 0.2% off of your mortgage rate.

Other extras too:
https://www.kbc.ie/our-products/kbc-current-account/current-account/extra

Still have 26 years on mortgage.
5 year Fixed rate mortgage term up with boi next year and like the look of KBCs rates, much better than boi. 2.6% vs 3.2% for 5 year and 3.05% vs 3.5% 10 year!

Smaller current account fees for kbc plus better savings accounts rates by the looks of it also.
I’ll defo be looking to switch if same rate differences next year when the time comes.

queenm79

I have a U First account so the new charges wont affect me ( as I'll continue to pay the €10 a month for having my U First), when I work it out though, it would actually be cheaper to not have the U First and revert back to an ordinary account. The U First was good when it provided mobile and travel insurance along with some other pretty good perks but now that they have all gone, I don't see the point of paying €120 for services I amn't getting.

However I read this morning that some peoples tracker rates are contingent on them having a U First account, I don't want to rock the boat by reminding them of this and I know my sister has a tracker with UB and does not have a U First account.

Any chance anyone out there knows if this is a real thing and I could be penalised by changing my account back to a normal current account? Like I said I don't want to draw attention to the tracker mortgage relationship if it is not a real thing!
Thanks.

Leprechaun77

queenm79 wrote: »

I have a U First account so the new charges wont affect me ( as I'll continue to pay the €10 a month for having my U First), when I work it out though, it would actually be cheaper to not have the U First and revert back to an ordinary account. The U First was good when it provided mobile and travel insurance along with some other pretty good perks but now that they have all gone, I don't see the point of paying €120 for services I amn't getting.

However I read this morning that some peoples tracker rates are contingent on them having a U First account, I don't want to rock the boat by reminding them of this and I know my sister has a tracker with UB and does not have a U First account.

Any chance anyone out there knows if this is a real thing and I could be penalised by changing my account back to a normal current account? Like I said I don't want to draw attention to the tracker mortgage relationship if it is not a real thing!
Thanks.

I believe the Ufirst account reduced some mortgage rates by 0.1% at the time. The terms said that they can increase the rate if the customer no longer had the ufirst account active.

queenm79

Leprechaun77 wrote: »

I believe the Ufirst account reduced some mortgage rates by 0.1% at the time. The terms said that they can increase the rate if the customer no longer had the ufirst account active.

Hopefully that was fixed rates etc, I might still be ok. Looks like I might need to ask the questions though.

Thanks for the help.

TallGlass

I'v gone ahead with the KBC Extra Current account. I would lodge the minimum into the account for 'free' banking PM. Going to wait till salary for this month is in UB account and then it's bye bye.

Has anyone any experience of moving a savings account with a fairly large deposit in it? I'm a bit nervous about it, can KBC handle this for me?

JTMan

Which PTSB savings account product are you moving from? Which KBC savings product are you moving to?

Cartman78

Right...still fuming I have to say...I haven't been this annoyed about anything in a long time for some reason :mad:


I did a quick eyeball check on my UB account there for the month to date...I reckon I would have racked up about €3 so far with another 10 days or so left in the month.



So a reasonable estimate would be around 10+ more transactions so another €2 or so then add on the flat €2 fee would bring me up to around €7.


I also have another account with them that I use for paying the mortgage and any other large bills...probably unnecessary I know but it worked for me in terms of monitoring etc.


All in all I would be paying around €9-€10 a month in charges based on the new charges versus €8 at the moment. (assuming I haven't missed something obvious).


So if I were to close my slightly unnecessary but handy second account, and start using my Revolut (I opened an account last week) card for day to day expenses, I could potentially reduce my overall charges


I still don't like what UB are up to at all, and am waiting on a call back today from KBC to see what they have to offer.

TallGlass

With all respect Cartman78, this is exactly what UB are betting on. They are hoping that people won't move.

Technically, I could keep the account with them myself, leave 24€ in it for the year and not use it at all and just use Revolut instead. Not a hope I am doing that, they have annoyed me big time.

Cartman78

TallGlass wrote: »

With all respect Cartman78, this is exactly what UB are betting on. They are hoping that people won't move.

Technically, I could keep the account with them myself, leave 24€ in it for the year and not use it at all and just use Revolut instead. Not a hope I am doing that, they have annoyed me big time.

No worries - I'm still likely to move tbh, was just thinking out loud there.


I'll weigh up the options - KBC leading the field at the moment by the looks of it (like the sound of that secondary savings a/c).



Will hopefully be talking to them today at some point...I'll update anything useful here

Leprechaun77

queenm79 wrote: »

Hopefully that was fixed rates etc, I might still be ok. Looks like I might need to ask the questions though.

Thanks for the help.

That was for a tracker

Ten Pin

Has anyone any experience of moving a savings account with a fairly large deposit in it? I'm a bit nervous about it, can KBC handle this for me?

Get the IBAN for the new account. Then transfer a small amount online (1euro) from existing account to KBC new account (savings) to check that it goes OK. Then transfer the balance online over the following days/weeks (max daily transfer limit). Leave a small balance in the existing account until the interest is paid in and transfer the remainder.

OR

Submit a closure request for the existing savings account. They will ask for a destination IBAN and transfer it in a single transaction (including accrued interest) rather than having to do it in multiple transactions if you did it yourself.

OU812

Anyone know how long the KBC account takes to complete setup? Did it an hour ago through the app and it’s still “creating card & documentation”

28064212

sonyvision wrote: »

The 2.5k lodgement must come from an external account.

Where do you see this? The terms and conditions just say €2500 must be lodged each month, they don't make any mention of it having to come from an external account

Lanshane

I take it this latest steal from UB only will apply if one has a current account? I have a few online saving accounts with them, if I close the current account, will I still be able to transfer online between these savings accounts using the UB app without being charged?

sonyvision

28064212 wrote: »

Where do you see this? The terms and conditions just say €2500 must be lodged each month, they don't make any mention of it having to come from an external account

They told me, I rang them when setting up the account that the tranfer must come from a different account ie can't just move money between savings and current account.

Claireabella

I am totally clueless with this kind of thing, apologies if it has been answered!

I use my ulster bank account to get wages and children's allowance paid in, no direct debits or standing orders. I use my debit card regularly, can live without contactless, rarely draw cash unless I have to (my rent for example, so once a month). I also use the debit card regularly online. Oh nearly forgot, I have both current and savings, and would transfer between the two very often

What would be the best bank to switch to? Thanks for the help in advance..these new fees are complete bull!

Wheety

Cartman78 wrote: »

I also have another account with them that I use for paying the mortgage and any other large bills...probably unnecessary I know but it worked for me in terms of monitoring etc.

So if I were to close my slightly unnecessary but handy second account, and start using my Revolut (I opened an account last week) card for day to day expenses, I could potentially reduce my overall charges


I still don't like what UB are up to at all, and am waiting on a call back today from KBC to see what they have to offer.

Just cut out some of your post so I could reply to what's relevant to my situation.

Myself and my wife get paid into a KBC Extra Current Account. This is a joint account and mortgage, bills, groceries and other household expenses come out of this.

We have a discount on our mortgage and a bonus on our Extra Regular Savings Account. Have a credit card too and can earn up to €10 cash back a a month on groceries.

We both then take an 'allowance' from the current into our own UB accounts and this is our spending money for the week. You'd be surprised how little you can get by on when everything else is paid through the joint account.

I decided there's no point having the UB account. I have switched my payments to N26. These are standing orders and KBC accepted the N26 IBAN no problem.

I have access to the KBC Irish IBAN if I ever need it for something. Thinking of cancelling my UB credit card too as could use the KBC one if I needed to.

Oh, and to further complicate things, I actually use Revolut for my day to day spending so from my 'allowance' a certain percentage gets sent to my Revolut.

28064212

sonyvision wrote: »

They told me, I rang them when setting up the account that the tranfer must come from a different account ie can't just move money between savings and current account.

Sounds like the person on the call didn't know the answer and just guessed. They say the opposite here and here, and their T&Cs do not mention any "external" condition

Mousewar

I'll be saying goodbye to Ulster Bank.
N26 seems cheapest but I'm guessing that whole not in ireland thing will be a headache even though it shouldn't be.
EBS Money Manager doesn't have a contactless card apparently?
That leaves me looking at KBC. My savings are already with them so it makes sense and although they're not free they seems to just have a modest quarterly fee so long as you deposit >2000/2500 a month which is fine.*
*Just seen they actually have a 30c atm fee. Hmmmm

But, will KBC just follow suit and add charges as well soon??

TallGlass

Mousewar wrote: »

But, will KBC just follow suit and add charges as well soon??

Thinking this myself, is it going to be like a domino effect with the others. IIRC, one bank introduced charges and then they all introduced it.

If KBC did do it however, I may just leave my savings with them and close the current and fully use Revolut.

I'm pissed with UB, one for these charges, they are not reasonable at all and secondly, the previous major outages and headache they caused me, I still stuck with them.

Put it this way, with myself anyway, this has been a long time coming with UB.

The only decent thing UB have done here is giving you enough time to get your affairs in order somewhere else.

fritzelly

I'm with KBC and just do cashback in the shops if I need it, no need to visit an ATM

Mousewar

Well I remember switching to UB from BOI after the latter introduced changes. I had the same worry but it's taken about 10 years for UB to follow suit.
All these n26 and revolut business seems over my head so I'll probably just go with KBC I suppose and hope for the best. Annoyed about the atm charge though.

28064212

Mousewar wrote: »

That leaves me looking at KBC. My savings are already with them so it makes sense and although they're not free they seems to just have a modest quarterly fee so long as you deposit >2000/2500 a month which is fine.*
*Just seen they actually have a 30c atm fee. Hmmmm

The Extra Current account has no quarterly or ATM fees, so long as €2500 is deposited monthly

TallGlass

Mousewar wrote: »

All these n26 and revolut business seems over my head so I'll probably just go with KBC I suppose and hope for the best. Annoyed about the atm charge though.

I'm late 20's and I was the same with Revolut but in fairness once you get the basics down, it's a very very handy card to have and really easy to use.

My worry is going for a mortgage and the banks been awkward with the statements or some crap. They shouldn't be, however in Ireland no one really sticks up for the customer.

Mousewar

28064212 wrote: »

The Extra Current account has no quarterly or ATM fees, so long as €2500 is deposited monthly

Is this true? Their website indicates ATM transactions are only free if you maintain a balance of 2k.

Nigel Fairservice

I just did a web chat with KBC about the Extra Current Account. If I got the account it would just be for me and not a joint account. I'd be getting my salary paid into the account but I'd be a few hundred short a month of the €2500. They said lodgements to the account should come from an outside source/account (so you can't transfer the shortfall in and then back out of a KBC savings account). I asked about making a lodgement from my credit union account to the KBC one and transferring it out again. They said that would be fine. The credit union don't charge for transfers either.

28064212

Mousewar wrote: »

Is this true? Their website indicates ATM transactions are only free if you maintain a balance of 2k.

There's two Current accounts: Regular and Extra. Different conditions. The Extra Current account has no quarterly or ATM fees, so long as €2500 is deposited monthly

van_beano

https://m.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/revealed-how-much-will-you-pay-charlie-westons-comparison-on-current-account-bank-fees-37830979.html

Charlie Weston did a bank comparison in the Indo today. Ulster Bank don’t come out too good under the “Perks” table. No Perks with Ulster Bank now.

Ten Pin

Here's the CCPC comparison web page
https://compare.ccpc.ie/CurrentBasicAccountSearch.aspx

Cartman78

The only perk is the frankly risible Rewards garbage they launched recently.....miniscule cash back for mainly obscure shops