Money Guide Ireland

First Active have jumped to the top of the high interest regular saver accounts – with their new 7.15% AER interest rate.
A monthly standing order must be set up – with a high maximum of 1000 euro amonth (min 1 euro).
No penalties for withdrawls, online access, 100000 max balance.
First Active say it a variable rate and may change.
AER is the Annual Equivalent Rate and shows what the interest would be if paid and compounded each year.

When comparing car insurance quotes make sure the following things are the same in each policy:

Is the car insurance comprehensive, third party fire and theft,or third-party only?
What is the total policy excess in the event of claims?
Is there an the excess for windscreen claims?
Does the insurance policy cover all the drivers you asked for?
Does the insurance cover include legal expenses and breakdown?
Does the insurance policy include a courtesy car – is there a limit on the size of this car?
How many windscreen claims can you make before it affects your no claims bonus?
Is the no claims bonus protected?

Insurance Brokers have to make a living – but here are a few tips on how to avoid being charged too much for your car insurance by a broker.

If a broker asks What have you budgeted? – they are really asking “What can we get away with charging you? Don’t give a figure. If they ask “What other quotes have you had? – If you respond 400 and their best price is 350, they’ll offer you insurance for 385, just beating your other quote. So the best advice is dont answer these questions.

Paying in monthly instalments
If you pay in monthly instalments, instead of up front in one go, you are sometimes charged interest or an admin fee, perhaps around 20%. The broker will keep a hefty slice of this. It’s far cheaper if you pay for your cover in one go or even using a credit card.

Incompetence
Sadly, some insurance consultants are not good at the job.
The problem is that its a job that requires meticulousness, or
they may pass insufficient details to the insurer. That information could have made your premium cheaper or, worse, the lack of it might make you officially uninsured!
Sadly, its the customer who has the duty of disclosure, so make
sure you tell the broker everything that you think an insurer
might possibly want to know, and get them to write it on their
quote and proposal forms, so there is written evidence.
Information that is relevant to some insurers includes whether
youre a homeowner (which can decrease your premium) or whether
youve had a non-motoring criminal conviction (which can increase
your premium, but at least youll be properly insured).

Loyalty doesnt pay
When it comes to renewal, if the premium charged by the insurer has gone down (usually because the cost of insuring that person, or people in general, has dropped that year), some brokers might write to the customer saying ‘Good news! The premium has
remained the same’, and theyll keep the difference themselves.
The more dastardly ones will even increase the premium.
Brokers can be a useful tool, particularly if your circumstances are complicated, but you can avoid all this hassle and cut out the middleman by comparing online.

ONE in eight people have a secret savings account that their spouse or partner does not know about, a new survey reveals. The survey was conducted by Millward Brown IMS for EBS Building Society.

Women have emerged as having a slightly higher level of secret savings than men.

Personal finance experts have concluded that many women are keeping a cash pile to provide a “nest egg” for their own financial security.It appears that some women fear that their partners would spend the money if they found out. Anxiety over a possible break-up in the relationship may also be a factor.
Also likely to be behind the existence of secret savings is a desire for women and men to be financially independent of their spouse or partner.

The survey also found that working adults are squirreling away more money in savings than they are spending on clothes, socialising or holidays.

Security is the main motivation for saving with people putting an average of €299 aside each month, according to the survey. This amount of money closely matches the €300 spent each month on drinking and socialising.

Most people save for a “rainy day” with 31pc citing this as the reason for stockpiling cash in a savings institution.

Providing for the education of children was the motivation for 19pc of those surveyed, with holidays, buying a car and saving for a deposit on a house also featuring strongly.

Only one-third of regular savers know their interest rate and most still seek advice about savings, with many seeking advice from a variety of different sources.

Some 60pc of regular savers believe that they should save more money each month.

Already 1 in every 5 regular savers have cut back on their socialising to increase the amount that they save each month. However, nine in 10 savers say that the cost of living increases has impacted their ability to save.

Overall, the savings ratio in Ireland at over 9pc is higher than our European counterparts

Bank of Ireland are offering an introductory interest rate of 10.5% (10.92% EAR) on offer to new and existing personal current account customers
Customers – new and existing can avail of 10.5% credit interest from the 15th of October 2007 which will apply to cleared credit balances up to a maximum of €1,500.
Bank of Ireland customers will not be required to make a minimum monthly lodgement or maintain a minimum credit balance to qualify. The introductory rate is available to new and existing customers until the 24th of February 2008 after which time it moves to a variable rate of 4.0%

This offer – as good as it sounds – is still bettered by Halifax who offer 10% on current account balances up to 2000 euro – and have no end date for this rate (currently)

http://www.moneyguideireland.com/halifax-10-interest-on-current-ac.html