I don't see the point of free banking. If the bank offers you something cheap, they are making it up some other way.
Take the thousands of people who switched to Ptsb to avail of free banking. As they were with ptsb, they probably bought other services from them. If they took out a variable rate mortgage with them, they are now paying around €300 per month more than average. That is €300 per month, every month.
I have looked at my AIB account, which would be busy enough.
Account maintenance| €4.50
43 automated/self service transactions at 20 cents each |€8.60
14 paper/staff assisted transactions @ 30 cents each |€4.20
Total for a quarter | €17.30
Rough annual cost: €70
Steiner above estimates his fees at €80 per annum, so it's probably representative enough.
That is not a high cost for supplying a current account service including access to cash machines.
I don't know what the fuss is about.
(And I will be saying that on the 6.1 News on RTE TV tonight)
I would much prefer if the prices charged were linked to the costs incurred.