From May 28th 2012 – AIB are revising the rules on fee free personal banking. Allied Irish Bank’s current account customers will now have to keep €2500 or more in their current account at all times to avoid paying fees. If the balance drops below €2500 at any time in a quarter – customers will be charged fees for the whole quarter.
What are the AIB Fees and Charges?
There will be a €4.50 a quarter admin fee .
Plus 20 cents for each of the following transactions:
Debit Card ; ATM ;Standing order ;Direct debit ; Internet transaction ; Phone transaction and 30 Cents for each Cheque and Branch transaction.
For example – after May 28th – an AIB current account holder that doesn’t keep €2500 in the account could incur charges like these :
If they use a debit card ten times a week , use an ATM twice a week, write one cheque a week and have 4 direct debits a month , they will be charged €42.80 in fees in a quarter. (€171.20 a year)
See how these fees compare to other Current Account fees in Ireland. Many customers of AIB may be switching to Ulster Bank where personal current accounts are still free of any fees.
Using prepaid debit cards is another way to cut banking fees . Read more about prepaid debit cards here
Note: Up until May 28th Allied Irish Bank charge no fees on personal current accounts IF customers use their AIB debit card to make at least one purchase each quarter AND make at least one debit transaction using AIB Phone or Internet Banking in each quarter.
Will personal joint current accounts be affected also? I have gone through all terms & conditions and there is no mention of whether joint accounts will be affected or won’t be affected!
Any advice or information is much appreciated.
Kind Regards, Fred
will cashsave accounts also be affected
I WILL DEFINITELY SWITCH TO ULSTER BANK, as I have no disposable income to leave on the banker’s table….! I think AIB digs its own grave with such measures as many of its customers will switch to other banks. I know myself a lot of people already did so and further loss of customers may lead to a loss of reputation and put the bank in a huge trouble in the future ….
Hi there,
you say that Ulster bank have no bank charges but how do you explain the charges on their current account fees page below? Just Google ulster bank Guide_to_Business_Current_Account_Fees.pdf to find it.
Details of Transaction and Account
Maintenance Fees.
Account Maintenance Fee €5.08 per
quarter
Branch Transactions
All manual transactions €0.40 each
All automated transactions including
laser debit transactions
€0.22
Cheques Lodged €0.24
Bank Drafts
– Domestic Euro
– Non Euro
€2.25
€3.81
Cash Handling
Cash Paid in at branch (notes and
coin) (% of value lodged) 0.5%
Cash out at branch/Cash Centre*
(notes and coin) (% of value paid out) 0.5%
Cash Exchanged at branches (notes
and coin) (% of value exchanged) 1.0%
Coin Paid in at cash centre
(% of value lodged) 2.0%
Fast Cash Paid in (% of value lodged) 0.5%
Oliver – those figures are for business accounts – we are looking at personal accounts. I have amended the article to make that clearer.
Hi, in these days of hard economics can the government allow the AIB to do this? The new criteria for free banking will be a bit excessive to say the least. The classic is to present at least one check a week, our branch in Mullingar do not deal with checks in the branch at all!! I am on the dole unfortunately, but, and i may be in a minority, still do all my financial transactions through the bank. If the Ulster Bank will not take us i will have to go to a cash based system and step back into the 20th century, surely the Government cannot allow this to happen en masse. No internet banking, no direct debits, no online bill payments etc etc, never mind what it will do to my credit rating when i eventually get a job. Do AIB have an inside track on Ulster doing something similar or are they committing Hari Kari? I CANNOT afford to pay 30 to 40 euro to the bank a month to live normally.
So rang AIB today, yes indeed joint accounts need to have a minimum of 2,500 in at all times so that means 5,000 has to be kept to one side if like a lot of people you have a joint account as well as a personal account so in reality it is 7,500 for a couple who have their own account & joint account! I find what AIB have done is nothing short of an absolute disgrace! Will be leaving to move to probably Ulster but not until I get my interest paid out on my 4 AIB savings accounts next week.
Good luck & good riddance!
Customer anger will soon turn to inertia,nothing to see here,a lot of ranting and raving with 99% of customers too lazy to change accounts,they will shrug their shoulders and continue on harnessed to the plough like the plodding animals the bank knew ye were.
AIB seem to be getting very creative at making money without lending any.
Guess after 28 yrs ill now b movin banks