Source
r/ireland•
junkeye

Recommend a bank?

Hi,

I'm moving to Ireland for work - and will live in Dublin, this subreddit and r/dublin have been invaluable.

My company has offered to set me up with appointments to open a bank account, and have asked me to choose between three banks - do members here have any recommendations or advice about these three:

  • Bank of Ireland
  • KBC
  • Permanent TSB

If it matters, I use Santander and Monzo in the UK at the moment - I use my mobile for most transactions, and rarely use a branch or a chequebook.

Posted Jan 30, 2019, 6:03 PM UTC

519
SalamiSoap•

BoI's online banking is deplorable so i'd probably rule them out

9
emmmmceeee•

I’ve been customers of all 3 over the past 10 years. KBC wins hands down. The only downside is they are cashless, so if you need more than €700 a day or need to lodge a large amount of cash, perhaps from a drug deal, then you have problems.

8
Manfromdelmonte556•

AIBs app is great I find. Been using it for years. Would stay away from TSB.

5
Freetogoodowner•

Second that

1
SorryWhat•

N26

5
DirtyNortherner•

KBC, if you don't use cash and are happy to post cheques to them its perfect. You can always make up the 2500 per month for free fees by transfering money out of the account to something like revolut then transfer it back to make up the shortfall.

3
timothyclaypole•

KBC all the way, see my other comment in this thread, I’m convinced they are the best of the current crop of Irish banks (actually Revolut might be interesting but I’ve no personal experience of them so can’t comment).

Apart from everything else If you are used to using mobile payments either Apple or google then KBC is the only one on this list supporting them at this time.

2
junkeyeOP•

Thanks - appreciate that

​

1
Manfromdelmonte556•

Aib are support both Apple and Google pay.

1
timothyclaypole•

But OP can only pick from KBC, BOI or PTSB - I know Ulster Bank as well are supporting mobile payments but of the list OP has KBC is it...

1
Manfromdelmonte556•

Ah yes I see.

1
Hobby_account•

N26

2
DanGleeballs•

None of the above!

Go with N26 or Revolut.

I moved from Bank of Ireland to N26 over a year ago and it was the best thing i did. Everything’s instant. Irish banks are stuck in the stone ages.

Edit: https://n26.com/en-eu/

1
hand_land_27•

How do u lodge money that's what I don't get

2
phyneas•

KBC is online only, no branches at all. BoI and PTSB are traditional banks with branches (though it's not like they allow customers to actually speak to employees at the branch these days, of course; unless you're wanting to sign up for some new product that makes 'em lots of money, it's naught but the row of self-service ATMs for you...).

KBC you can avoid the account fees by having €2500 per month lodged to your account, no minimum balance needs to be maintained. BoI requires a €3000 minimum balance at all times to avoid most fees, but still charges a €5 per quarter fee no matter what. PTSB used to have a similar deal to avoid fees, but I believe they've stopped offering that option now; their only new current account has an unavoidable €4/month fee (but no transaction fees).

KBC has a mobile app; I really never use it for transactions or anything, just checking my balance, but it exists at least. Logging into the desktop web site and doing anything requires repeated 2FA authentications and verifications hidden behind multiple poorly labeled sections of their mobile app for every step of every transaction and is a gigantic pain in the ass (although their app was updated a while back and I haven't tried the desktop site since then, so it's possible it's gotten better...).

I've never tried to use BoI's mobile app, so I can't speak for its functionality, but I haven't heard good things. Their website is basic but usable; people always seem to moan about it for some reason, and I'll grant it's a bit clunky sometimes, but I've never had any issues with doing the basics (setting up payees, scheduling payments, doing one-off transfers, paying my credit card balance, etc.). Much better than KBC's desktop site, for sure.

Can't speak to PTSB's online/mobile banking, I'm afraid, as I've never had an account there.

1
timothyclaypole•

KBCs inclusion of 2 factor security within their mobile app is fantastic. The other banks either require a separate physical token or don’t bother at all.

The explanation of how to use it when logging in to their desktop site is not wonderful but once you’ve done it once you won’t need to be shown a second time.

I’ve used both KBC and BOI (and AIB and N26 and Rabo so I’ve got plenty of experience for comparison) and honestly KBC is the best hands down for completeness of service, ease of use and robustness of security.

3
phyneas•

Maybe it has gotten better then; been a while since I actually logged into the site. Last time I did, the 2FA wasn't just for logging in; for everything you wanted to do (each time you add a payee, set up a transfer, etc.) it asked for validation codes multiple times, and there were like two or three different places under the mobile app you had to go to get different types of codes and each action needed you to provide a different one. They were often not clear about which type of code they needed or how to actually generate that particular type of code in the app, so it was a real pain. It took me over thirty minutes to set up a couple of scheduled transfers the first time, and I work in IT, so I'm used to dealing with security and horrible cryptic UIs.

I also dread the day when their app quits working on my phone and I'm locked out of my account entirely. Hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it will sooner or later. At least with BoI their 2FA is all via SMS, so it works no matter what version of Android I'm running.

1
timothyclaypole•

I’m using their iOS app and whilst they do require each individual transaction to be approved there’s only one place and one type of code needed (it is different to the login code though)

SMS really isn’t suitable for banking 2FA. It’s quite shocking that bank of Ireland are still dependent on it.

1
junkeyeOP•

!thanks

1