BOI Impose Raft Of New Charges

From Monday, Bank of Ireland customers who do not hold a Student, Graduate or 'Golden Years' account will face new significant banking charges.

Under the new scheme, customers will have to deposit €3,000 per quarter into their account while making at least nine payments using phone or internet services per month, or keep a minimum of €3,000 in their account to avoid the charges.

Responding to the charges, the Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) said it was concerned at the absence of "stress-testing" or "impact analysis" on how changes in fees and charges for services affect low income banking customers.

The FLAC said it recognised financial institutions are "for profit companies", but that access to financial services such as insurance or banking services played an important role in the economy and society as a whole.

"The nature of the proposed charges seem to mean that those who have large transactions with the bank (such as those who can lodge substantial sums on a regular basis and discharge a high number of bills from their accounts) will suffer the least and conversely, those who cannot make large payments will suffer most," an FLAC spokesman said.

Under the new charges, if someone does not fulfil the requirements for free banking they will be forced to pay charges on all transactions.

Payments fall under two options - the first is a pay as you go option where every transaction is charged at a fee of 28c, the other option is a flat fee of €11.40 for 90 transactions and 28c thereafter.

Bank of Ireland said it has no current plans to extend new banking fees in the Republic to NI customers. A spokesperson said it was committed to fee free banking in the UK but this was always under review.

(DW)