Money Guide Ireland

The bargain hunters over at Buy Online Ireland have dug up another great discount voucher for you to use this weekend  (Fri Jan 30th to Sun Feb 1st). You can get 20% off everything at Homebase  – including Sale items. 

This Homebase voucher is out of date – but you can see some current Discount Codes and Vouchers here.

Homebase don’t do online shopping in Ireland - but If you are looking for DIY goods or  tools – why not try these online shops that deliver to Ireland

Tooled Up is a large UK online retailer that specialises in Tools .

Maplin are best known for electrical items – but they also sell a range of tools – power and hand tools , soldering tools, tool boxes etc. Delivery to Ireland is just £8.78 per order.

Amazon sell lots of tools – power tools such as drills , sanders, power washers, Hand tools such as spanners, screwdrivers, . Amazon deliver tools to Ireland – delivery is free if you spend over £25 .

Anglia Tools are an independent retailer with an online shop that will deliver tools and other DIY items to Ireland.

Every little helps – is the annoying slogan – but it’s true . You can save €30 at Tesco when you shop online in the next few weeks. Tesco have 3 discount coupons worth €10 each  off an online shopping order of €100 or more . Deliveries must be all made before  Feb 15th :   Get your Vouchers Here.

As was to be expected – with all the rrecent ECB interest rate cuts – Anglo Irish have today cut the rate on the Instant Access account from 5.5% to 4.75%. (For Irish Customers)
Northern Rock Ireland still has a rate of 5% on it’s instant access online account. (Both  of these banks are now owned by Governments.)

See Best Instant Access Rates in Ireland

Ulster Bank are advertising a new 1 Year Fixed Rate deposit account paying 4.6% AER. Minimum deposit though is 25 Thousand Euro and it must be funds that are not already in an Ulster Bank Account.
The only 12 month fixed rate higher than this is from Anglo Irish – but savers might be a bit unsure of them after all the recent problems.

See Best One Year Fixed Rates

First Active lowered their eSavings rate earlier this week to 3.5%. They won’t be around much longer because they are merging with Ulster.
Today – Ulster Bank have reduced the interest rate on their eSavings account from 3.9% to 3.5% also.
I suppose both of them having the same rates makes the merger easier.
One of the Ulster rates went up – the Regular Savings rate rose from 4.25% to 4.75%. That must be the only savings account that has had a rise in rates since last summer?
See all the Best Savings Rates here

EBS Building Society have a  new ” Family Savings Account” which  allows account holders to save between €100 and €1,000 every month and earn  5.1% fixed interest in year one (5.1% A.E.R.).

The account can be opened with a deposit of as little as €1 (maximum €1,000) and involves a monthly direct debit of between €100 and €1,000. . Account holders can make a maximum of two withdrawals a year, one at any time and another at the end of the year.
An interesting idea – fixed rate regular saver with the option to withdraw.
EBS confirmed that you will get the full 5.1% on amounts you withdraw before the year is up?

AIB – Allied Irish Bank – are dropping rates on mortgages and some deposit accounts from Wednesday 28th Jan.

The AIB variable rate mortgage will be the lowest in Ireland at 3.25%. See full list for comparison of mortgage rates here.
Tracker rates for current borrowers will also be reduced by 0.5%
The AIB regular savings rates are falling too – the  Parent Saver account decreases by 0.50% to  8.25% . The Regular Saver rate decreases from 5.75% (AER) to 5.25% (AER)

 First Active reduced the eSavings plus rate last week – now they have also dropped the rate on their eSavings account from 4.75% to 3.5% . They now pay this rate on all balances – it was previously capped at 15k.

Best Rates on Instant Access Savings

First Active branches in Ireland are due to close later this year because of losses at the parent company Royal Bank of Scotland. First Active customer  accounts will  all be moved to Ulster Bank. The rates announced today are a bit lower than similar accounts at Ulster Bank  – so customers will probably be less likely to complain that they lost out because of the move to Ulster. (It will look like a rate rise when the accounts are moved).