Money Guide Ireland

Last chance to make use of this Milano discount  voucher - valid until March 11th 2010  .
The new Milano voucher is not a “2 for 1″  – but it’s just as good.
It will  get you any two main courses  for €15 on any day of the week except Saturdays and Valentines Day (14th Feb) . Expires  March 11th 2010 .

With the dearest main course priced at  €15.95 – you could save as much as as much as €16.90 with this voucher.

Print Voucher Here

Mortgage lenders in Ireland and probably in other countries too – are tightening up the rules on who they lend to. Getting a mortgage is much harder in 2010 – but there are some ways you can increase your chances of getting mortgage approval.

1. Pay off Loans
If you can – try and pay off any loans before you apply for a mortgage – even if it it means waiting a few months. Any outgoings on loan repayments will reduce the size of the mortgage the bank will be willing to give you.

2. Avoid going Self Employed:
If you do have the  choice of staying as an employee or  going self-employed – it is worth  sorting out the  mortgage before you leave the job .  Lenders will need 2 years worth of self employed accounts to show your income . The days of  self-certification mortgages, where a lender was willing to take your word on how much you earned each year, are gone.

3 . Improve your Credit Rating

All lenders will check if you are a good credit risk before they agree to give you a mortgage – and recently they  have tightened up their credit scoring.

You can improve your credit history record by making sure you are on the electoral register. It also helps to stay with  your current account provider for several years.  The longer  you have been at your current address, job and bank the better.

If you have never previously had any credit – it might be  agood idea to take some on to prove you can be trusted. You could apply for a  couple of  0% credit cards, spend  a few Euros on them and then just pay them off in full by direct debit.

4. Approach your own Bank
There are some people who say it is not a good idea to borrow from the bank where you have your current account. This is because there have been some examples of banks moving money from customers current accounts to pay off debts . If you have nothing to hide – you may find that the bank where you have your current account  is much more likely  to give you a mortgage than a lender that has never met you before.
They can see how much money you have coming in and going out of your account each month.

5. Buy a House and not an Apartment
Lenders are likely to lend more on a house rather than a new build city apartment. They are worried about the resale value of the glut of new apartments – and are more willing to lend more on houses.

Find the Lowest Mortgage Rates in Ireland Here

Some recent strengthening of Sterling  against the Euro seems to have been reversed this week – and the  pound has fallen slighly against the Euro this week.  The Pound was worth just over €1.10 Euro yesterday (March 4th)    It has fallen from €1.16 since January 28th 2010 . There were hints of a UK recovery in February – but that seems to have fizzled out. Both  the ECB and Bank of England left interest rates unchanged yesterday – but it looks like UK recovery may come quicker the the Eurozone – which should increase the vale of Sterling in coming months.

Exchanging  Euros to Sterling :
If you are making   large purchases in Sterling – but all your money is in Euros you may do better with a specialist currency broker instead of going to your own bank. If you are moving to the UK for work – and need to transfer a large amount of Euros into Sterling – you should also check out the savings you can make by using a currency broker.

Currency Solutions is one UK based specialist broker that can carry out conversions of larger amounts of currency for you – (amounts over £3000 GBP usually) – commission free and at better exchange rates than the high street banks.
You can visit their website for a free no obligation quote – or you call them on  0044 207 740 0000 - and ask for the Money Guide Ireland dedicated contact  - Ernie Enver. He will be able to give you a quick response to any queries.

Businesses
If you run a business with regular payments or invoices in Sterling or other non Euro currencies – then Currency Solutions will also be able to save you money on exchange rates and charges.  Visit the Currency Solutions website or call Ernie Enver on 0044 207 740 0000 to find out more details. Mention “Money Guide Ireland ” when calling

Irish shoppers can take advantage of the weaker pound – and shop online with your credit card at UK web sites that charge in Sterling and deliver to Ireland.
Shop Online Ireland has details of plenty of online shops that deliver to Ireland.

Another currency broker that provides a similar service is Currency UK

The new National Pensions Framework for Ireland was unveiled today. As expected – it included rises in retirement age and an “auto enrolment”   pension scheme for many  workers.

The state contributory pension will remain – but the the current averaging system will be replaced by a  “total contributions” ‟ approach. This means the amount of pension will be proportional to thenumber of years that a person has contributed.

The Irish State Pension age will be increased to 66 in 2014 , increased to 67 in 2021 and then to 68  in 2028  .

All employees in Ireland will be automatically enrolled into a new pension scheme unless they are a member of their employer’s scheme and that scheme provides higher contribution levels or is a Defined Benefit  scheme.

Contributions to the new pension scheme will be made within a band of earnings, with earnings below and above certain thresholds exempt. Employees will be required to make a fixed percentage contribution.

Tax relief for contributions to existing occupational and personal pension : arrangements currently based on a contributor‟s marginal rate of tax will be replaced with a State contribution equal to 33 per cent tax relief  and employer contributions will match the State contribution;

Contributions will be collected through the PRSI system. Employees can opt out but they will be re-enrolled every two years . As an enticement to stay in the scheme – there will be a once-off bonus payment for people who remain in the schemefor more than five years continuously

Public Service Pensions : A single new pension scheme will be introduced for all new entrants to the publicservice, before the end of  2010.

With Anglo Irish Bank apparently soon to announce losses of 12 Billion Euro – is it time to cut the losses and close it down?  This article by David McWilliams suggests it is.
In the article titled “Money-Sucking Anglo is our Financial Stalingrad” - he compares it to the battle for Stalingrad in the Second World War. Germany kept fighting for Stalingrad – even though they couldn’t win. Hitler thought that the  credibility of the German war effort was on the line in Stalingrad. He was convinced that if they cut their losses there, their credibility as a fighting force would be irreparably damaged.

Vhi have announced that as from today 1st March 2010 – all new and renewing company plans will be increased by an average of 7%.  Also – from today  Vhi are increasing  the out-patient excess on Company Plan Starter and Company Plan Plus Select from €1 to €25 per person.

Some good news – they will reduce the in-patient excess from €125 to €75 per hospital claim on Company Plan Extra Excess from this date.

These changes will apply for all new and renewing customers from 1st March 2010.

VHI customers could always look for cheaper health insurance at Quinn or Aviva

Consumers need to be aware that anyone can apply for any of the company/ corporate  insurance  plans from any of the health insurers. They cannot refuse anyone access to any of their plans. They might try and tell you that you can’t do it – but they are wrong if they do. You could save money (possibly hundreds for a family) by moving from a personal insurance plan to a company one.  It is not something they will be telling everyone  – but ask and see what happens. If you don’t get satisfaction – contact  The Health Insurance Authority  01 406 0080  or  info@hia.ie

As always – “shop around ” is the best advice when buying or renewing car insurance. You could save hundreds of euros by going with one insurance company instead of another. In one example in a recent price comparison on Irish car insurance by the Financial Regulator – one car insurance quote was almost  3 times more expensive than the cheapest quote for the same client.

In the October 2009  survey – quotes were obtained for car insurance for a female 22 year old student  with 2 penalty points , 4 years full license and 2 years no claims bonus. She was driving a 2002 Nissan Almera . The quote also included a named driver – her 22 year old male partner with a provisional licence.

The cheapest insurance quote for this young driver was from Hibernian Aviva at €873 a year.  The highest quote for the same criteria was  €2506 from Axa Insurance .  The Axa price was 287% more than the Aviva price. (A difference of  €1633)
Note- The  Aviva price was subject to the driver taking and passing a  free 1 hour driving assessment to qualify for a special Ignition discount.

Other quotes in this example were €1418 from Quinn , €1652 from FBD , €1695 fom Allianz, €2153 from RSA via a broker and €2033 from Zurich.

In another quote comparison – for a 55 year old female driving a 2007 1.8l Ford Mondeo with a full clean licence. The cheapest cover was from Hibernian Aviva at €417 a year – with Quinn and Axa close behind at €421. The highest quote in this example was from Chartis at €579 – an increase of €162 compared to the lowest quote.

Comparing car insurance quotes for a 32 year old male social worker from Lucan, Co. Dublin with a full 10 year old clean licence and 5 years no claims bonus  – driving a  2006 VW Polo worth €10k.  The lowest premium found was €468 from Aviva and FBD . Next best was from Quinn at €496 with the most expensive quote being from Alllianz at €793. Again – a considerable difference of €297 between the cheapest and the most expensive quotes.

It could take a couple of hours to check out quotes from several companies – but if you can save up as much as €1633 – it will be time well spent.

Until March 2010 – you will be entered into a free draw to win an Opel Corsa if you get a full quote online at Aviva

Ref:  http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/cs_group_motor_insurance.htm

Irish householders can  avail of grants of up to 40% of the cost of energy efficiency improvement measures under the Irish Government’s Home Energy Saving Scheme (HES).
This Scheme, which is administered by SEI, provides grant assistance to homeowners for retrofit energy efficiency measures such as attic and wall insulation, very high-efficiency boilers, heating controls and Building Energy Rating (BER) assessments. The scheme is open only to owners of  a house that was built prior to 2006

The HES was allocated €49 million in 2009 but only €16.2 million was paid out in grants.  The Scheme attracted 40,724 applications in 2009 -  of which 36,454 were approved for grant aid.  The grants were used to upgrade 18,183 homes.
For 2010 €29.5m has been allocated for the Home Energy Savings Scheme.
You can find out more on sei.ie

There is a new scheme in the pipeline – the  National Energy Retrofit Programme which was announced in the 2010 Budget . Details are yet to be defined – but In broad terms the Retrofit Programme will bring together the Home Energy Saving Scheme and the Warmer Homes Scheme as well as the support programme for business and the public sector. It will also also involve the development and promotion of energy services by the energy companies.