Minister Coffey calls on Bank of Ireland to reconsider €700 withdrawal limit

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey has called on Bank of Ireland to reconsider its new customer policy of only allowing withdrawals of more than €700 with tellers.  Minister Coffey said that this policy should be looked at again and a practical approach should be taken, in particular for rural & elderly customers where branches exist.

“Many rural & elderly people rely on the safety and security of entering a bank branch to withdraw money.  This appears to being stopped now by Bank of Ireland who is trying to phase out the withdrawal of money inside their branches.

“This change will have a dramatic impact on rural and elderly customers right across Waterford City and County.  These are the same customers who saved Bank of Ireland only, a number of years ago when the bank needed their support in order to survive as an institution.

“I welcome the introduction of new technologies that will make banking easier; however I believe that a longer period transition is needed, in particular for certain customers and I would call on Bank of Ireland to take a practical approach and ensure that customers that need the assistance of a teller with their withdrawals would be attended to as they currently are.”

—Ends—