The bank is set to increase the monthly fee on its Explore current account from April, which will affect over 500,000 customers.
Current account fees for most of PTSB's customers are set to increase over the coming weeks.
PTSB is hiking the fee on its main current account by €2 a month to a fairly hefty €8 a month, meaning customers will be paying at least an extra €24 a year.
The hike will come into effect from April. However students, teens and those over the age of 66 who have an Explore account will continue to be exempt from the monthly fee.
On top of this, PTSB is reducing some of the benefits on the Explore account.
At present PTSB pays customers 10 cent cashback every time they use their card or phone to pay for something in store or online, up to a maximum of €5 a month. This meant that if someone made two purchases a day, they could avail of the full €5. So for many customers the account only cost them a net €1 a month
However the cashback is being slashed to just 5 cent per transaction, meaning customers are much less likely to be able to get the full €5 reward each month. So for some customers they may now end up paying a net €3 or €4 a month instead.
Why is PTSB upping the fee?
PTSB says it’s increasing the fee to cover the costs of its continued investment in its digital offering.
However anyone who has used the PTSB app of late might be wondering where the investment has gone.
Despite a recent refresh, the app is still average at best. It can be slow, is not very slick looking, and it doesn’t offer the most basic of features such as face or fingerprint log-in. The now common freeze/unfreeze card feature, which allows you to temporarily block your card, also isn’t available. And you can’t easily make payments to other customers in seconds like you can with Revolut or even AIB.
PTSB did, however, recently introduce an innovative new feature to its app called ‘PTSB Protect’, which aims to protect customers from fraudulent scams.
You can see how the PTSB app compares to the rest of the competition in our review of all the main banking apps here.
It is five years since we have increased our fees on current accounts and over that time, we have, and will continue to, invest significantly in our current account offering. Recent changes include a recently launched new banking app and a unique fraud protection service.
A PTSB spokesperson
Is the PTSB Explore account good value?
Despite the increase, the account still offers relatively good value - for Ireland at least.
The €8 fee includes all your day-to-day transactions, including direct debits and cash withdrawals.
PTSB also has a fairly extensive branch network, which will be of comfort to some. As it means customers still have the ability to deposit cash and cheques if they need to. Unlike with the online-only banks.
And if you’re a customer of SSE Airtricity or Sky, you can get up to 5% cashback on your bills if you pay them by direct debit from the account. And if you have a mortgage with PTSB and pay this from your Explore account, you'll receive 2% cashback on your monthly mortgage repayments until 2027.
All this, coupled with the 5 cent cashback, means you can further offset the €8 monthly fee.
Compare current accounts
If you're unhappy with the fee hike, check out our in-depth review of all the main current account providers in Ireland.
And you can easily compare the fees and charges from all the main providers with our free current account comparison service.
