Can Bank of Ireland reject my application because I live in England?

Money_Grabber13579

I think you should consider it a lucky escape and commence the process to apply for an account with a proper bank, such as Nationwide, Halifax etc

MyUsername

Whats wrong with the Bank of Ireland?

Willing2Learn

Or you could also apply for a Danske Cash Reward current account. It pays you £5 per month nett (if you comply with their conditions). If you don't live in Northern Ireland then they will open your account by a telephone appointment only.

margaretx9

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Or you could also apply for a Danske Cash Reward current account. It pays you £5 per month nett (if you comply with their conditions). If you don't live in Northern Ireland then they will open your account by a telephone appointment only.

Has anyone actually opened such an account from GB?

Perhaps they have made it easier but I recollect people in the past saying non NI applicants from GB had to go through lots of hoops e.g. having to go to a branch in NI to provide their documents to prove ID and address (which might not be too convenient if you live on the other side of the Irish sea!).

Their online application process asks if you live in NI - and if you say no it asks you to call them. I just don't think they are keen on opening their accounts up to GB residents unless you can demonstrate a good reason (e.g. your permanent job/home is in NI). But maybe things have changed.

Willing2Learn

margaretx9 wrote: »

Has anyone actually opened such an account from GB?

I have. I live in London, England, and have no connection with Ireland or N/Ireland. I successfully opened the Danske Cash Reward account in September 2018. I made a pre-booked telephone appointment to open the account (the 'phone call lasted maybe 30 minutes or so). I made the appointment by simply ringing customer services. The ID checks were done electronically via a Credit Reference Agency.

suki1964

MyUsername wrote: »

Whats wrong with the Bank of Ireland?

Well now you don't have an account with them, you will be lucky never to find out

Just to add, they insisted that my husbands wages, being paid in England and transferred to BOI, were a foreign transaction and charged us for the privilege

If you are transferring from one part of the Uk to another, does it not make sense to use a bank that has branches in all parts of the UK such as Halifax, TSB. etc etc etc?

surreysaver

MyUsername wrote: »

Whats wrong with the Bank of Ireland?

They trade via the Post Office in Great Britain. Have you tried having a relationship with Post Office Money?

MyUsername

So I had a call from Bank of Ireland to take my details for an application which were taken and I was asked to visit a branch to confirm my identity which I did. I then get an email 2 hours later saying my application has been rejected because of Equifax credit scoring and I should contact Equifax to see why, Equifax has said my score is excellent.

I was then referred back to the complaints team who say that they can't tell me why my application was rejected because it's "commercially sensitive" with their account opening process. They also offered me an "amicable settlement" of £75 to conclude the matter which I have written back rejecting as I don't feel it doesn't resolve the situation and in any case given how much they have messed me about it seems a very low amount to offer to settle the situation. I have therefore informed them that I am escalating it to the financial ombudsman which will be interesting.

agrinnall

MyUsername wrote: »

I have therefore informed them that I am escalating it to the financial ombudsman which will be interesting.

I'm not sure it will be, the FOS won't alter the decision that BOI has taken as all banks can make a commercial choice of which customers to take on, and while they might look at the settlement amount £75 seems like money for nothing to me so I wouldn't be surprised if they don't recommend anything more.

MyUsername

agrinnall wrote: »

I'm not sure it will be, the FOS won't alter the decision that BOI has taken as all banks can make a commercial choice of which customers to take on, and while they might look at the settlement amount £75 seems like money for nothing to me so I wouldn't be surprised if they don't recommend anything more.

We shall see in any case the £75 is rather small in value for a settlement offer given how much of time they have wasted.