Postcodes in Irish Republic

[tortolano]

A colleague, recently moved to UK from Ireland, has applied to several banks for an account, and although he has ideal credit record at home, he has beem knocked back for full facilties here i.e. cheque book and card. One bank told him it is because he could not provide a postcode for his previous address, but there are no postcodes in ROI. Even an impressive letter of introduction from his bank manager cut no ice with Barclays. Two questions: Why are postcodes so important to the banks, and why don't they have them in ROI?

[sunnyspells]

thre are no postcodes in ireland as the country is small enough not to need them - Dublin has a population of just over a million. there are postal districts - Dublin 6, 8, 18 etc and that is all that is required. I had the samr problem as your colleague - I got a friend who was friendly with someone in the bank and introduced me and that worked..Nat West understand these things hmm...some people in the UK think ireland is part of britain and thus cannot compute no postcodes..silly people! Banks like postcodes coz thye like to know where you live and have time saving software that spews out your address upon input of postcode.

[froggequene]

Postcodes can pinpoint exactly where you live right down to the number on the door and the names of the people living there, which is considered important when tracing someone's previous credit history. Maybe your friend has sorted his problem out by now, I don't know but if he had a bank account in Ireland it might be worth his while finding out if they have links to a bank here and if they would be able to help him get a sterling bank account set up. Alternatively, he could ask his employer to help him set up a bank account with their bank, it may work.