Credit interest ptsb account

I opened a second PTSB account today and because I'm feeding this new account from my wages and then have a standing order from this new account to my existing account, I asked about PTSB's rather stingy interest rate. It's 2% on 1500 only, as long as 1500 is deposited into the account each month. No problem, it's 30 quid in my pocket rather than the bank's.

However, the girl opening my new account told me I have to apply for this interest rate. There's a link online where you click it to apply. She couldn't adequately explain why this is. But it means that I've not being earning ANY interest for about 5 years on my existing account.

I don't understand how they can do this, nor why I have to specifically apply to have interest applied to my account. Does anyone know about this? I'm about to apply to have both accounts get interest now, but they're making such a kerfuffle about it, I'm thinking there's a downside?

I'm not sure why you have to apply for it. However, I did get a letter from PTSB several years ago explaining what I had to do, and it was followed up with a phonecall. The interest rate was also widely advertised at the time.

Current Accounts dont generally pay interest, or rather they never used to. Halifax did but that was only to get market share.

At the end of the day, you are getting free banking (correct me if Im wrong on this) and earning 2% interest when ECB is at 1%, thus a cost to Permo to pay interest on balances, what more do you want!

They are simply making you apply for interest in the hope that not everyone will do it, thereby saving themselves a few pennies in not having to pay 2% on all their current account balances- would be my assumption

Don't get me wrong, I know this is a bonus, I've always thought this was a zero interest account, but to find that there is an interest rate but you have to specifically apply for it seems odd to me. What's to stop any other bank doing this? You get a high interest savings account and throw money into it for 10 years only to find that you didn't check a box online, so no interest has been applied? I assume no bank would get away with this?

Chris, you got a letter and a call? Ok, maybe it got lost in the shuffle a bit, but I have no recollection of such correspondance.

BOI is the same, for their interest (its tiny now, 0.25% maybe) you also have to apply.