The table showing the best variable rate mortgages in Ireland has been updated today – following Bank of Ireland’s rate cuts. They cut all variable rates by 0.5%.
See the full table of best variable rates here

If you have large amounts of Euro currency to convert to Sterling (British Pounds) – now might be a good time to do it.

If you have amounts of more than £3000 to convert – you will usually get better rates from specialised currency brokers. If you are planning on making a large transfer of currency  – this is probably one of the cheapest way of converting your Euros to Pounds.
Even an exchange rate difference of just 0.005 on a 100,000 Euro transaction would save you £500 Pounds.
Currency Solutions are a specialised currency broker who are registered with the UK Revenue and Customs as an authorised Money Service Business.
Figures provided from Feb 2008 on the Currency Solutions website compares Euro and Sterling exchange rates at major banks such as Barclays, LLoyds, NatWest and HSBC. On a transaction of 250,000 Sterling you could save as much as £3250 by using Currency Solutions instead. They will carry out exchange from Sterling to Euros to also – as well as most major currencies. You can make a no obligation enquiry about your currency requirement. All you need is a bank account to transfer the money from and another one to pay it into.

Times are tight – so we keep hearing – and every little helps . Tesco Ireland are giving €5 Euro discount on online shopping when you use this discount voucher. Just print it off and hand it to the Tesco delivery driver. Valid until November 30th 2008.

Five Euro Discount

ECB rates are to drop again to 3.25 (currently 3.75%). This was confirmed a few minutes ago.
Rates are now at the same level they were in October 2006.
Interest rates in the UK are now lower than in Ireland for the first time in years. The rate cut by the Bank of England today was 1.5% – bringing rates there to 3%

A few minutes ago the Bank of England announsed it was cutting interest rates from 4.5% to 3% – a cut of 1.5 base points – or another way of looking at it a reduction of 33%.
ECB rates are up for review later today – and a cut of 0.5% bringing rates to 3.25% are expected. It may be more.

Ulster Bank and First Active today confirmed that they will not be participating in th Irish government guarantee scheme. They join HBOS and IIB who also declined to join the guarantee scheme.
Ulster and First Active are part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group
The group said that following a detailed review of the options available to them, they are satisfied that the measures recently announced by the UK Government, to ensure both the liquidity and recapitalisation of banks, provides its parent The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and consequently its retail and business customers in Ireland, with the protection and security they require during these unprecedented economic times.

The last ECB rate cut triggered a flurry of mortgage rate reductions from Irish lenders – because they were under the media spotlight after the Government guarantee. It is expected that ECB rates will fall again in November and it will be interesting to see which lenders cut variable rates again (if any).
Currently – Halifax has the lowest variable rate mortgage at 4.9% with a high maximum LTV of 90%. AIB , BOI and NIB have slightly higher rates . See our full list of the lowest variable rate mortgages in Ireland

Halifax Bank of Scotland said last week that its Irish subsidiaries would not join the Irish government’s bank guarantee scheme, after earlier lobbying to be included.

A statement said joining the scheme “would restrict the bank’s ability to compete and provide value for money products for business and retail customers during these difficult times”.