AIB to hike customer charges by up to 133%

AIB is hiking up bank charges to personal and business customers — with ATM transactions increasing by as much as 133%.

From the end of August, the charge for a current account holder using an ATM machine will go from €0.20 to €0.35 — a hike of 75%.

Business customers will see their ATM charges go from €0.15 to €0.35 — up over 133%.

For paper and staff-assisted transactions, current account holders will be charged €0.39 per transaction, up from €0.30. These include cheques, manual withdrawals or lodgments and staff-assisted transactions at any AIB branch counter or the post office.

Current account holders will see the charges for foreign currency drafts go from €4.44 to €7 at the end of August, while the charges for setting up or cancelling a manual standing order will go from nil to €4.50 from Sept 14.

In a statement, AIB said the new fees and charges would equate to an additional €0.75 on average per month for personal customers and €1.90 per month for business customers, while close to 40% of its current account customers would continue to qualify for maintenance and transaction-free banking.

The bank is also extending the period in which it is providing Contactless payments free of charge until February 2014.

Commenting on the price increases, AIB’s director of products Fergus Murphy said it was also providing customers with information in its branches and online on how to minimise bank charges. “We recognise that any increases in charges to our customers are unwelcome but unfortunately we have no option but to ensure that the bank is covering costs on the services it provides,” he said.

Earlier this month, Bank of Ireland announced it is to begin charging customers €0.15 for payments made by contactless debit cards next year.

However, the bank is also set to lower — from €0.28 to €0.20 — all fees related to automated and electronic transactions. These will cover all direct debit, standing order, online and ATM transactions and, according to the bank, will mean it is lowering 95% of all its transaction fees.

In April, Permanent TSB announced it was removing all quarterly fees and charges for day-to-day transactions for customers who lodge €1,500 a month to a current account.