any banks that I should avoid?

ghid and UB UF

can you elaborate on the problem you had with it? I had one setup for the UB mortgage(2.85% mortgage rate by using this Ufirst) and so far had no big trouble...btw it just got to 9 euro a month...lemme know, cheers.

Re: any banks I should avoid?

Buried within the bundle of leaflets that I received from Ulster Bank this week is the news that they are to apply quarterly charges to current accounts whose balance falls below €500 in that quarter (rather that just staying in credit for any amount as they did previously).

When I rang them to confirm that this was indeed the case, they say that it was. I told them that it meant that I would have to close my account, and they said "Fine - we'll need that in writing". They couldn't care less.

Here's hoping the NIB aren't such a wunch of bankers.

senior query

My mother is a senior citizen and has a current/cheque account with Ulster Bank. I believe she would rarely have more than €500 in the account at any time.

Himself, do you know if these new charges will apply to senior citizens? Does the UB still operate free banking for elderly customers?

Re: senior query

Don't know about UB specifically but some banks still waive charges for senior citizen customers. If they don't then maybe NIB FreeBank would be an alternative?

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Re: senior query

According to the aforementioned leaflet from Ulster bank,
"Students in full-time third level education and persons over 65 years of age qualify for transaction fee free banking"

I confirmed that these were the only exemptions when I spoke to their telephone banking people.