Permanent TSB hired him to ask us . . . nicely . . . to stop paying unnecessary bank charges. But when the request comes from one of the meanest mobsters from TV hit The Sopranos, it's no surprise that a nation sits up and pays attention.

The result is that 4% of bank customers are estimated to have switched to another financial institution over the past two years, with many attracted by offers of free banking.

Some 30,000 people have made the move using the special switching code developed the Irish Bankers' Federation, which pins most of the responsibility for a hasslefree changeover on the financial institutions.

The ability to move your business without the fear of cheques being bounced or pay cheques ending up in the wrong account has forced the banks to compete more aggressively. National Irish Bank, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank give free banking to most customers.

AIB and Bank of Ireland followed their lead, reluctantly, although their free banking still has strings attached.

"The availability of free transaction banking is an incentive to switch banks, while the new code has made the process easier, " says Mary O'Dea, consumer director at the Financial Regulator. "We encourage consumers to keep an eye on developments in the market and use our cost surveys to see where they can get the best account for them."

GIFT VOUCHERS . . . READ THE SMALL PRINT GIFT vouchers are the easy way out if you can't stand the headache of Christmas shopping. But your laziness can end up costing your loved ones, who may find the vouchers are worthless by the time they get around to using them.

Some 37% of shops impose expiry limits on their gift vouchers, according to a straw poll of 70 retailers conducted by the National Consumer Agency and the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs. The ones to watch out for include Dunnes Stores, which will not accept Christmas gift vouchers after July, and mobile phone companies Vodafone and Meteor, which also have a six-month cut off.

"It is vital that consumers check to see when the expiry date applies, as they have no redress if it expires before they choose to use it, " says Ann Fitzgerald, executive chair of the NCA.

"Consumers should also make recipients of gift vouchers aware of limits if they apply."

Just because there is no expiry date on a voucher, don't automatically assume you can use it whenever you want.

"Given that not all retailers indicate that they have a period of validity, it should not be assumed that just because the voucher does not state an expiry date, the store would allow it to be redeemed at any future date, " said Fitzgerald.

REGULATOR WARNS ON EASY SHOP CREDIT SHOPPERS should think twice before using credit cards or in-store credit to pay for their Christmas purchases because these are often the most expensive ways of borrowing, according to the Financial Regulator.

A 1,200 Visa debt could cost you 39 in interest if you take six months to pay it back. A 1,000 bank loan can cost 68 in interest if you pay it off in 12 monthly instalments.

"There are many ways of borrowing money and, while it might seem handy to use your credit card or in-store credit to pay for many of your Christmas expenses, these can end up costing you more in the long term, " says Mary O'Dea, consumer director at the Financial Regulator. "You will generally pay more for the convenience of in-store loans, using your credit card or availing of doorto=door credit collection.

Think first what type of credit suits you best and how much it costs."

She also warned that taking time to tackle your debts can be a false economy. "It can seem attractive to go for lower monthly repayments by taking longer to repay the loan, " she says. "But this will cost more because you will pay more interest. So weigh up what suits you best and how much you can really afford to borrow."