# Closing an AIB account



## joolstree (8 Aug 2007)

Hi,
Need advice! 
i have two AIB accounts - one which i have been using for years (account 1) and the other (account 2) which i have recently reactivated and received a Maestro card for. 
account 1 has all of my current standing orders and direct debits, including all bills, mastercard and salary but is located where i used to live and is no longer easy to get to - so i want to close it and transfer everything over to account 2, which is more local. 
Is there a charge for this?
Thanking you


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## ClubMan (8 Aug 2007)

Can't imagine that there would be a problem calling/writing to them asking them to transfer everything over to account 1 and closing account 2. Presumably your own branch should be able to assist? I doubt that there would be a charge but it really depends on the nature and terms & conditions of either or both accounts.


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## gel (10 Aug 2007)

joolstree said:


> Hi,
> Need advice!
> i have two AIB accounts - one which i have been using for years (account 1) and the other (account 2) which i have recently reactivated and received a Maestro card for.
> account 1 has all of my current standing orders and direct debits, including all bills, mastercard and salary but is located where i used to live and is no longer easy to get to - so i want to close it and transfer everything over to account 2, which is more local.
> ...


 
It's a lot less trouble to either leave things as they are. Use their internet banking for day-to-day transactions and if you have to call to your "more local" branch. The same service can be provided. 

Now if you were moving to a completely different bank then that would be a different matter. Nowadays there is no need to move accounts from different branches of the the same bank.


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## purpeller (13 Aug 2007)

gel said:


> Nowadays there is no need to move accounts from different branches of the the same bank.



I disagree.  Cheques that are not lodged in your own branch are sent through the bank's internal mail to that branch and then cleared, so it takes longer.  This is the case with AIB.

To the OP: be prepared to stand firm on closing the account.  The bank will not want you to close your account and move it to a different branch because it will decrease their number of accounts.  Each branch has a rating based on this.  

I closed a deposit account last year and the cashier spent 10 whole minutes trying to convince me to leave €5 in the account so it would remain open.  Arguments used included "it's very difficult to open a deposit account" and "wouldn't you just prefer to have it there in case you need it?"


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## ClubMan (13 Aug 2007)

I have closed accounts with various banks in the past with no hassle or hard sell on keeping them open.


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## Quest (13 Aug 2007)

''I disagree. Cheques that are not lodged in your own branch are sent through the bank's internal mail to that branch and then cleared, so it takes longer. This is the case with AIB. ''

Not true - cheques are processed in which ever Branch/Bank they are lodged and cleared centrally.


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## gel (14 Aug 2007)

purpeller said:


> I disagree. Cheques that are not lodged in your own branch are sent through the bank's internal mail to that branch and then cleared, so it takes longer. This is the case with AIB."


 
This is untrue.



purpeller said:


> To the OP: be prepared to stand firm on closing the account. The bank will not want you to close your account and move it to a different branch because it will decrease their number of accounts. Each branch has a rating based on this. "


 
If you know that this is the best thing for you then by all means. 



purpeller said:


> I closed a deposit account last year and the cashier spent 10 whole minutes trying to convince me to leave €5 in the account so it would remain open. Arguments used included "it's very difficult to open a deposit account" and "wouldn't you just prefer to have it there in case you need it."


 
This appears to be a sensible arguement from the cashier and may be he is just doing his job on behalf of his employers. I am sure he was acting like any other salesman.


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## emul (14 Aug 2007)

I was already to do this recently till I discovered I would have to manually re-establish every DD and SO, with the a/c in the new branch. In my case it was with UB, but I would check with AIB. The funny thing is if I moved my account from another bank the "dedicated switcher team" would have handled all the DD changes for me.

Good luck - emul


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## joolstree (15 Aug 2007)

Thanks for all your posts - have managed to effectively close account 1 by faxing my branch and getting all my direct debits/standing orders moved over to account 2 (i had to call to confirm but there were no problems). So account 1 is now technically still open but all of my banking is through account 2! sorted! 

and to gel - there have been many occasions over the past few months where one AIB branch told me that in order to do x or y i had to go to my home branch so having one easily accessible is still necessary.


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