Bank deletes tweet advising young couples to move back in with parents

Bank of Ireland ad about ‘Orla and her boyfriend’ provokes fierce online reaction

Bank of Ireland has come under criticism for advising young people to move back in with their parents to save for a mortgage.

A tweet promoting the advice via a blog post on the Bank of Ireland website was deleted following a fierce online reaction.

The tweet from the Bank of Ireland Twitter account featured a picture of a young woman with the message : “Orla and her boyfriend stopped renting and moved back with their parents to save the deposit for their 1st home.”

The blog detailed how Orla and her boyfriend moved back in with their parents, and saved for their eventual move into a house in Swords, Co Dublin.

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The Tweet was poorly received in a week where it has been reported that rents had reached an all time high.

The latest survey from the property website Daft.ie found that rents had increased by almost 12 per cent year-on-year to June.

This means it now costs almost €3,000 a year more in Dublin and €1,500 a year more outside the capital to rent.

It is not the first time Bank of Ireland’s ad campaigns have come in for criticism. The widely derided “Rachel and Steve” campaign was replaced late last year.

At the bank's shareholder meeting last year, an elderly shareholder said he "he was sick of seeing "that stupid [TV]ad" for Bank of Ireland's mortgage offers, which "seems to play several times a day every day of the week".

The company said that ad campaign had been developed “following extensive customer research and depicts the journey that consumers undertake when buying a home”.

A spokesperson for Bank of Ireland was unavailable for comment Wednesday night.