Advice needed: Current account and investment options - Ulster Bank to KBC?

[Chuckey]

Hi All. Looking for some advice for my wife.
Her current account is with Ulster Bank.
New charges kick in today.
We do a lot of transfers between her account and mine (PTSB) to manage houshold bills etc. Direct debits, standing orders etc. too.
She would lodge more than 2500 euro per month from salary, but would be very unlikely to maintain a 3000 euro balance.
Thus, transaction charges will be high going forward.
We are looking around for other current account options....?

She also has 80k in a KBC Smart Saver account.
This account pays just 0.25% AER

I've seen in the Best Buys that there are some preferential rates available for KBC customers who open current accounts. Though I think this is more for Regular Saver type accounts.

What are the current account fees at KBC like for the type of transactions we do?
Would it be worth opening a KBC current account?
Is their App and online banking any good? My wife likes the Ulster bank desktop and mobile apps. and finds them user friendly.
We haven't really suffered any significant IT outages at UB.
I believe the KBC branches are cashless, so she would probably keep the Ulster Bank account for depositing the odd cheque etc.

She also has a Revolut card that is used for dollar and sterling transactions, online and overseas.
We haven't tried N26 yet though.
Finally we also bank with EBS. Have a mortgage and a deposit account that feeds it, which is in turn fed by our current accounts monthly.

Is the EBS current account a viable alternative? I've heard it was fairly limited and the online banking isn't great?

Any advise greatly appreciated.
C.

 

[Lightning]

KBC Extra Current Account has no euro transaction and maintenance charges provided you deposit at least 2,500 EUR per month. Hence, the transaction you refer to would be free. Their app is good and KBC support Google Pay, Apple Pay and FitBit Pay.

She also has 80k in a KBC Smart Saver account.
This account pays just 0.25% AER

Suggest you put 10k in a KBC Extra Regular Saver (10k lump sum is allowed) and then drip feed 1k per month into it until you reach 39k.

If you have a PTSB account, you could open up to 3 regular saver accounts there, and drip feed 1k per month into these accounts too.

 

[Boyd]

Thus, transaction charges will be high going forward. We are looking around for other current account options....?

I believe the KBC branches are cashless, so she would probably keep the Ulster Bank account for depositing the odd cheque etc.

Im confused - you are looking for a new current account to avoid fees, but even if she changes to KBC she is still going to pay the Ulster fees anyway?!

She would lodge more than 2500 euro per month from salary, but would be very unlikely to maintain a 3000 euro balance.

She also has 80k in a KBC Smart Saver account.

All this sounds like alot of hassle when she is happy with Ulster. Why not just transfer in 3K from the 80K into the Ulster current account to avoid fees? Its only in a loss of E8 in interest from the saving account, but will save you more in fees.

 

[Freelance]

All this sounds like alot of hassle when she is happy with Ulster. Why not just transfer in 3K from the 80K into the Ulster current account to avoid fees? Its only in a loss of E8 in interest from the saving account, but will save you more in fees.

I've banked with Ulster and KBC among others. Each has strengths and weaknesses, but in overall terms I've found Ulster much more straightforward to deal with and their platforms more functional. Having thought about these new charges I have done exactly what Username123 suggested. The €3,000 would yield somewhere between €3 and €30 pa (.1% and 1% respectively) which is a lot less than the charges I would incur. This minimises the cost but keeps me on the Ulster Bank platforms and apps which work very well for me.

I have also done some housekeeping to reduce the charges in the event that the rules change again, including

• Moving a number of recurring debits from my C/A to my CC (which I clear monthly)
• Eliminated a number of inter account transactions and consolidated others