Paying the way to cheaper bank charges

Irish people could do a lot more to cut their bank charges, but many must change their payment habits to see savings, the country's two main banks have said.

Reacting to the Irish Times/MRBI survey, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland said while there was little difference between their charges, customers could achieve significant reductions in the amounts they pay in fees.

Both banks say they waive all charges for large numbers of customers, such as students and old age pensioners. Furthermore, other customers who maintain a certain amount of cash in a current account are exempt from fees.

"Only about half of our customers wind up paying fees, and we have found that poor service is far more likely to move a customer to another bank than charges," said Ms Eilis O'Brien of Bank of Ireland.

"Bank charges are not a big conspiracy," says Mr Turlough Crowe of AIB. "The fact is people are making more transactions now than ever before. A lot of people use ATMs, Laser cards, credit cards and cheques; there's a lot less cash dealing."

"This is not rocket science, but it may require a change in behaviour," Mr Crowe said. "For example, it would benefit some people to break up their deposit accounts, to have one with immediate access and another bearing higher interest."

????as a rule of thumb, an electronic transaction costs half a paper one."

Other tips include:

Write fewer cheques they cost more than 30p each, compared to 19p per transaction conducted with a Laser card.

Use your credit card for shopping, rather than a cheque or Laser card.

Clear your entire credit card bill each month, the day after your pay cheque hits your bank account.

Take out twice as much cash from the ATM, half as often.

If you're going abroad with friends, pool your cash at the foreign exchange; this will either incur one fee instead of several, or get a better rate.