A chara, - The Bank of Ireland claims it is going to radically improve banking in Ireland by the year 2,000. One wonders if these "improvements" will benefit the customer. A major marketing drive has been launched to inform customers that, from December 7th, current account charges are rising to 22p per transaction or £9 per quarter, whichever one opts for. The word increase is never used but, more importantly, nowhere in the literature is the customer told that free banking is being eliminated. Free banking was available to customers whose accounts were maintained in credit by £100. Other financial institutions apply free banking to accounts kept in credit by a penny.
As a long-time customer of the Bank of Ireland, what I find most annoying is the bank's failure to properly inform clients of these changes. Indeed it may be accused of misinformation by omission. Customers should vote with their feet.
As an aside, have others been annoyed by the amount of unnecessary literature received from the bank recently, adding to an ever-growing waste mountain? I have been offered a "fully approved" loan twice already this week. How much paper has been wasted in sending thousands of letters to people who are quite capable of negotiating a loan if they wish to? The money could be put to much better use by providing real benefits to customers instead of removing them.
Businesses which create such unnecessary waste should be penalised. - Yours, etc., Claire Keegan,
Orlynn Park, Lusk, Co Dublin.