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Competition Commission Slams Banks
The Competition Commission has attacked the local "big 4" banks (Northern, First Trust, Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland) over their high charges on personal accounts in an interim report which forms part of an investigation into a complaint by the Consumer Council.
Reluctance of consumers to change banks is cited as one reason why the banks get away with the unreasonable charges, but lack of competition is being blamed as well. The charges of some local banks (especially First Trust) don't compare favourable with the national banks (like the Co-operative Bank, Nationwide and Halifax, all of whom operate in Northern Ireland).
Transaction | First Trust | Northern | Co-Operative Bank |
---|---|---|---|
Set up Direct Debit / Standing Order | £4.50 | Free | Free |
Direct Debit / Online Transfer | 43p per transaction | Free | Free |
Debit Card / Cash Machine | 43p | Free | Free |
In-branch withdrawal | ? | 13 per quarter free, then 70p | Free |
Duplicate Statement | £10/page | £6/page | £5/statement |
From my quick analysis, Northern seem to come off the best of a bad bunch. Steve Costello of the Consumer Council said "people here pay more and get less on their personal current accounts" while the Ulster Bank, one of those being investigated, claims "the personal current account market in Northern Ireland has never been more competitive." The problem is that both these statements are true. The current account market here does seem better than ever, but it was so far behind the real banks that it hsan't even caught up yet.
Follow up:
It's not even like the national banks charges are all that reasonable, they're getting a bad press for overcharging too! Just another raw deal for Northern Ireland.
Ulster Bank don't publish their fees on their website (that's inexcusable by the way). First Trust's fees are available online though and they make grim reading, I actually couldn't believe they charge you just for taking your money out of a hole in the wall!! It's criminal!Northern Bank's charges are online (they just make them as hard as possible to read) and so are Bank of Ireland's.