Making Cents: The good, the bad and the ugly of current accounts
Reporter:
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There are about 5.3m current accounts in Ireland, and it’s always a bugbear of a topic for people, especially when they see banks increasing their charges so frequently. That extra cent or two to lodge or withdraw money, that quarterly bill that lands in our account is incredibly annoying.
But despite our irritation, the rate at which we switch is incredibly low.
The most recent data available shows that only 0.00029% of current account holders actually moved providers over a calendar year.
And banks are very aware of this. They know people are less likely to switch their current account than any other banking product which is why they can increase their charges. They know, the % that will move will be minuscule. They know we’ll complain, and we’ll be outraged, but a week or two after the increase, it will be old news and we’ll have done nothing about it.