BoI under fire for new current account charges

BANK of Ireland has been heavily criticised for its plan to charge some current account holders for their custom, with opposition TDs saying it is another hit to those on low incomes and the National Consumer Agency (NCA) advising people to shop around.

The bank has announced a new set of fees and charges for some current account holders, to come into effect from February. In order to avoid the charges, customers must lodge at least €3,000 into their accounts every quarter and make nine debit payments from them over the same timeframe. These debits must be made via the telephone banking and online banking services and cannot include direct debit payments, ATM withdrawals or standing order payments. If customers don’t adhere to those targets, they will be hit with a penalty of 28c per bank transaction.

The NCA said that, while the concept of free banking has been eroded over the past few years, this doesn’t bode well for competition in the Irish banking market.

Meanwhile, Labour’s deputy leader and spokesperson for finance, Joan Burton, said that the move goes against the principals of the original bank recapitalisation plan and its commitment to broaden the provision of basic bank accounts to socio-economic groups where banking is less prevalent.

However, Bank of Ireland defended the move, by explaining: “Key points are that 26% of customers are automatically exempt through concession products such as our Golden Years; nearly one million are already registered for telephone and online banking; and this change is designed to offer customers who do conduct their primary banking with us to avail of free banking.”