An Post Online Banking is a joke. And it isn't funny.

Polly Tunnel

Hi, my husband and I opened an An Post account last year (2019), because we wanted to get away from 'conventional' banking (AIB & Ulster Bank). Why? In truth, because of their 'blood-sucking' tendencies.

Setting up our joint An Post account was really easy. Depositing cash into our AN Post account was ... really easy. Lodging our first cheque was also really easy, BUT, it took TEN DAYS TO CLEAR. Neither of us can deal with the stress of this, so we stopped lodging cheques there, and were relieved we still had our AIB account ticking over.

I have spoken to An Post 'customer service' personnel and found them to be ... unhelpful. And so I have joined boards.ie hoping that someone out there might be able to help me with this one:

We have selected a second-hand van, and paid a cash deposit for it, to a bone fide garage owner in Northern Ireland. We now owe them £11,469 Sterling Pounds. We believed this balance could be paid by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) using our An Post card. But, as it's an EFT from one international currency to another, it wasn't that easy. And, yes, there are adequate funds in our account to cover this amount, so funds is not the issue.

I rang the customer service number, which I have had to do in the past, about an incoming cheque (different story), so I wasn't surprised when I got through to the out-sourced 'customer service team' and got speaking to 'Jamal' somewhere in the UK. He swiftly transferred me to 'Celine', who was based in Co. Clare. She swiftly passed me on to 'Anne Marie', also based in Clare. So, (bear with me, it's been a long day...) I asked her a simple Q:

Me: Anne Marie, how do I make an EFT in Sterling Pounds with my Euro An Post online banking facility?

AM. You can transfer a maximum €2000 per day through your online banking facility ... so that's one way...

Me: You have got to be kidding me ...

AM: Hang on while I speak to my supervisor ...
...

AM: Here's the solution - if you could write us a letter, signed by both of you, so that we can check your signatures against our details at An Post, regarding your joint account ... and also the invoice of what the funds are for ... we can pass it on to 'Treasury' for authorisation.

Me: I can't believe what I'm hearing, Anne Marie ...

AM: Or, you could email us a scanned image of your signed letter, and don't forget the invoice. It should take between three and five working days to clear.

Me: How will we know, Anne Marie, when or if the EFT goes through ...?

AM: Check with the garage to see if they received the money.

There was more, but that's the essence of our 10 minute conversation. I have sent the email. And the attachments.

I am incensed that, with Ireland's reputation for being so 'tech savvy', An Post online banking is Neanderthal in its lack of user-friendliness. Also, it is NOT their business what we choose to spend our money on ... or is it? (Genuine question.)

Please, has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did it pan out?

Atlantic Dawn

Use Transferwise, you transfer your money from your Euro An Post account in to Transferwise Euro bank account with no fee and they then charge a small commission to make payment in sterling to the UK bank.

https://transferwise.com/ie

Mrs OBumble

Polly Tunnel wrote: »

we wanted to get away from 'conventional' banking ....

Sounds like you succeeded.

And maybe you don't hate conventional banking so much after all.

EverythingGood

Most cheques take 10 days to clear. Most ETF's take a few days to land at the bene bank account. Use Revolut for fx transfers. Transactions over €10k will be subject to AML and SOF queries.

homer911

An Post is not part of the cheque clearing system - they will effectively outsource this to a bank that is, adding delay

Static M.e.

homer911 wrote: »

An Post is not part of the cheque clearing system - they will effectively outsource this to a bank that is, adding delay

I don't doubt what you have said but I'm curious. What is the cheque clearing system and how does that work?

Polly Tunnel

EverythingGood wrote: »

Most cheques take 10 days to clear. Most ETF's take a few days to land at the bene bank account. Use Revolut for fx transfers. Transactions over €10k will be subject to AML and SOF queries.

Thanks for your response. But what do the following mean: AML and SOF...?) I'm not big on TLAs....)

Johnny Sausage

Polly Tunnel wrote: »

Thanks for your response. But what do the following mean: AML and SOF...?) I'm not big on TLAs....)

AML - Anit Money Laudering
SOF - Source of Funds

Polly Tunnel

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Use Transferwise, you transfer your money from your Euro An Post account in to Transferwise Euro bank account with no fee and they then charge a small commission to make payment in sterling to the UK bank.

Thank you for that useful information, I appreciate your help.

Polly Tunnel

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Sounds like you succeeded.

And maybe you don't hate conventional banking so much after all.

Ha. The fees for An Post are a mere €5 per month. That alone was attractive.

Johnny Sausage

Polly Tunnel wrote: »

Ha. The fees for An Post are a mere €5 per month. That alone was attractive.

KBC do fee-free banking on their Current Extra accounts provided you lodge in €2,000 per month

Nijmegen

Current account handy FAQ if you don't want to read all those terms and conditions everyone lies about reading before accepting: https://www.anpost.com/Money/Help-Support#currentaccount

Is my account subject to any limits?

The following limits apply to your account:

Online limit per beneficiary: €2,000

Most banks are probably about €5k per day anyway, and for a retail punter to make a £11k+ payment if going to involve a trip to see someone.

Jim2007

Polly Tunnel wrote: »

I am incensed that, with Ireland's reputation for being so 'tech savvy', An Post online banking is Neanderthal in its lack of user-friendliness. Also, it is NOT their business what we choose to spend our money on ... or is it? (Genuine question.)

Well you could start be realising that a cheque must be physically presented for payment and it is not electronic and can take 3 days, 10 days or what ever. Some banks give you a temporary credit while this is happening, others don't.

You could acquaint yourself with the terms and conditions of the contract you signed and know that there is a transfer restriction and you would not be surprised by the product's limitations.

And as for the 'blood-sucking' tendencies of banks, well expecting free stuff always comes at a price. No business is going to invest much in a service they are expected to give a way for free or almost free.

Ireland has a very good reputation of being tech savvy and rightly so, but no amount of technology is going to account for people making all kinds of false assumptions and then getting all up set when they discover they were wrong.

The J Stands for Jay

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Sounds like you succeeded.

And maybe you don't hate conventional banking so much after all.

No, it sounds like they swapped one conventional bank for another. I vaguely recall Ulster Bank having similar limits.

The J Stands for Jay

EverythingGood wrote: »

Most cheques take 10 days to clear. Most ETF's take a few days to land at the bene bank account. Use Revolut for fx transfers. Transactions over €10k will be subject to AML and SOF queries.

Most EFTs these days are done same day. Last transfer I made to a NI garage arrived within 3 hours

McGaggs

McGaggs wrote: »

Most EFTs these days are done same day. Last transfer I made to a NI garage arrived within 3 hours

Most EFTs between two different banks take more than a day. Sometimes you can do same-day transfer, but you need to submit the payment request before noon and pay an extra fee.

The J Stands for Jay

true-or-false wrote: »

Most EFTs between two different banks take more than a day. Sometimes you can do same-day transfer, but you need to submit the payment request before noon and pay an extra fee.

I did a transfer on Friday morning between different banks. It arrive after a little over 2 hours. No charge for the transfer, and both accounts are free.

McGaggs

McGaggs wrote: »

I did a transfer on Friday morning between different banks. It arrive after a little over 2 hours. No charge for the transfer, and both accounts are free.

Yep sorry, I misspoke (or mistyped??)

What I was getting at is that most EFTs between different banks take more than a day, and that your one example can't be used to make a claim about what 'most' transfers look like. I should have said:

Most EFTs between two different banks take more than a day. Sometimes you can do same-day transfer, but often this comes with conditions, like you might need to submit the payment request before noon or pay an extra fee.

The J Stands for Jay

true-or-false wrote: »

Yep sorry, I misspoke (or mistyped??)

What I was getting at is that most EFTs between different banks take more than a day, and that your one example can't be used to make a claim about what 'most' transfers look like. I should have said:

Most EFTs between two different banks take more than a day. Sometimes you can do same-day transfer, but often this comes with conditions, like you might need to submit the payment request before noon or pay an extra fee.

Either way, it shouldn't take 3-5 days for an EFT.

jrmb

I wrote to An Post asking them to close my current account and they sent me an email saying that it "can take a few weeks to close" because I may be owed money back. I've never used to card to make any payments, and the only transaction for months has been the deuction of the account fee. Can they delay an account closure like this, when I don't owe them anything?

Jim2007

jrmb wrote: »

I wrote to An Post asking them to close my current account and they sent me an email saying that it "can take a few weeks to close" because I may be owed money back. I've never used to card to make any payments, and the only transaction for months has been the deuction of the account fee. Can they delay an account closure like this, when I don't owe them anything?

Read your T&C, most likely yes if you have any kind of card that could generate o/s transactions.

jrmb

An Post Money just sent me a refund of several months' worth of banking fees. I have to commend them on such a decent gesture.