All existing Bank of Ireland Laser-card customers now have access to the Cirrus network of international ATM machines about 300,000 machines in all. Up to now customers needed a new card before they could access the service.
ATMs that display the Cirrus double-blue circle and the Mastercard symbol allow anyone with a Bank of Ireland Laser card to withdraw funds in the foreign currency, the sum of which is automatically debited from their bank account back home. You simply key in your usual ATM PIN number, though the cost is higher than a usual ATM transaction: the cost in Europe is 2 per cent of the value of the transaction, with a minimum charge of £2, while in the rest of the world it is 2.5 per cent, or a minimum of £2.50. The Visa-operated equivalent of Cirrus, Plus, available to AIB customers, for example, displays three triangles and operates from the same ATM machines and at the same cost per transaction. Unlike Bank of Ireland, customers use their Banklink cards to access the Plus network rather than their Laser cards. Despite the cost, the use of ATM cards abroad is increasingly popular, but bank officials warn no one abroad should rely on ATM cards as the only source of funds in case the card is lost or stolen. Instead, they recommend you bring a combination of funding options: credit card, ATM card, Eurocheques/card, travellers' cheques and cash. And avoid keeping them all in the same wallet or handbag.
Meanwhile, Mr M from Dublin 8, who was in London recently and used his NIB credit card at a popular toy shop, clothing store and at the duty-free shop to make some small purchases, all in the space of three hours was very surprised to see three different exchange rates charged to his statement. "Within the space of a few minutes I bought my son a toy and a T-shirt at two shops on Oxford Street and three hours later I bought a bottle of gin at the airport duty free. According to my statement all three transactions were recorded on the same transaction and posting date yet the exchange rate was 0.8561p, 0.8713p and 0.8711p to the punt," Mr M said. "When I called the NIB Visa credit card services office I was put through to their Visa centre in Leeds where they told me the exchange rate depended on the rate at the time the transaction was received by them. They said that on that day June 26th the average exchange rate was 84p, so the higher rates I was charged worked in my favour. All my transactions were done by automatic swipe machines, which are supposed to send the transaction directly to VISA with no delay, yet they couldn't explain how there could be a nearly 2p variation between two transactions done within minutes of each other."
Other bank sources here say there was virtually no movement in the sterling/pound rates on June 26th and that their credit-card departments set exchange rates for credit-card transactions on a daily, rather than hourly basis.
They could offer no plausible explanation for how there was such a variation in the exchange rates. Exchange rates usually differ if the posting date the date on which the credit-card centre gets the transaction is later than the actual purchase date.
Mr M, who has taken to reading all his bank statements very carefully these days, said the issue "is a minor one, but may not have been if I was making substantial purchases".
