As from May 5th  2009 – Northern Rock Ireland are reducing the interest rate on their  Demand Online Account from 3.25 to 3%.

There are better rates available – see our list of current rates here.

As highlighted in this article on  Money Hospital  – mortgage lenders in the UK are charging much higher rates than their Irish counterparts. Here in Ireland the base rate (ECB) is 1.25% – in the UK it is just 1%. You would expect mortgage rates to be similar – or even lower in the UK – but that doesn’t seem to be the case. One of the lowest rates in the UK is from HSBC – it is 4.99% Fixed for 2 years and it comes with an application fee of £1499. Application fees are unheard of (so far) in Ireland.
In Ireland the lowest of the  2 year fixed rates  is  2.8% available with an LTV of 92% from AIB or 3% from Halifax (LTV 90%). Here in Ireland borrowers never seem to be happy – always expecting more decreases as the ECB rate falls. Maybe they should think themselves lucky?

The latest Budget announced that TRS  or Tax Relief at Source on mortgages would end after 7 years. This change was due to take effect from May 1st 2009.  It looks like the department of finance and Brian Lenihan didn’t work out with the Revenue department how this was going to work. Today it was gradually forced out of the government that some people will lose their TRS temporarily – even if they have had it for less than 7 years. Whatever “system” is used to track the tax relief – it seems it cannot cope with working out who has had it for 7 years or more!

Apparently for  first time buyers who haven’t moved house or mortgage provider it will be OK – but  for people on their second or third mortgages it is likely that at least some of them will have their relief stopped until Revenue can establish if they are entitled to continued relief.

In a statement , the Revenue Commissioners said that the relief at source would be reactivated in June where an entitlement is established, and that any arrears will be credited to their accounts automatically.

According to the Revenue Commissioners, the move means mortgage interest relief will be suspended for 321,000 of the 562,000 people currently receiving the entitlement. Of those, Revenue says 57,000 people will definitely no longer be entitled to it. (But there may well be more)

In this  so called “knowledge economy” known as Ireland it looks like the knowledge is lacking a bit.

All Tesco Ireland online shopping deliveries up until May 1st will only cost 1 cent. Normally charges are between €5 and €7.50. Book your cheap delivery slot here at Tesco Ireland before they all go.

Our list of the lowest mortgage rates is always being kept up to date with any changes by the lenders. Over recent days there have been cuts in variable and fixed rates from AIB, BOI, EBS and Ulster/First Active.We don’t list all the rates – just the lowest ones . See the latest mortgage rates here.

The UK Financial Ombudsman Service is trying to raise awareness of their services  young people in Northern Ireland . They are  running a competition, with prizes of £250 and £100 (and the same amount to your college), for Northern Irish students between the ages of 16 and 21.

To enter you need to design a PR or marketing campaign for the ombudsman, such as:

• designing a web page (or social-networking page)
• producing a script for a podcast or online video
• writing an article or feature
• designing an advert or an advertising campaign

Full details of the competition are on the Financial Ombudsman Service website.

The deadline for entries is the 5pm on 30 April 2009.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent service for settling disputes between financial companies and their customers and the service it provides is completely free

The latest Budget in Ireland announced that the short lived “Early Childcare Supplement”  is to be halved from  May 2009  and abolished from 31 December 2009.

It is going to be replaced in January 2010 with a pre-school Early Childhood and Education Scheme (ECCE) for all children between the ages of 3 years 3 months and 4 years 6 months.

Children enrolled in playschools will receive free pre-school provision of 3 hours per day, 5 days each week over a 38 week year. The pre-school providers will get a  weekly capitation  of €64.50 per child and parents  will not be charged.

Children enrolled in full- or part-time childcare services will receive free pre-school provision of 2 hours and 15 minutes per day, five days a week over a 50 week period. This equates to a weekly capitation grant to the service of €48.50, with parents paying for their childcare net of this amount.

All community and private pre-school services, which meet the requirements of the scheme, will be invited to apply for entry to the scheme and all notified pre-school services will be contacted by the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA) by the end of May, 2009. To introduce the scheme as quickly as possible and maximise the number of children and their parents who will benefit from the outset, the Minister said he did not propose to wait until the school year beginning September 2010 but would introduce the scheme from January 2010. From September 2010, the pre-school year will run from September of each year in line with the school year.

All children aged between 3 years 3 months and 4 years 6 months at September 1st each year, will be eligible and parents who wish to avail of the scheme can enrol their children with the available participating service of their choice. Children entering the scheme in January 2010 will be eligible, if they are aged between 3 years and 7 months and 4 years and 10 months at 1 January 2010 (children born between March 1st, 2005 and June 1st, 2006). Parents should have regard to the enrolment policies of their local primary schools in making decisions regarding the age that their children should avail of the pre-school year.

A book just out this week is going to be popular in these days of depression and recession. It’s written by  Martin Weiss – –America′s Consumer Advocate for Financial Safety
The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide  gives readers information on how to create an effective financial and personal plan for the future . This comprehensive guide was especially designed to help people map out a practical financial plan in this unpredictable economic environment, so that they can stop worrying about their money and just enjoy life. Step by step, it ntroduces, explains, and helps solve many of the new challenges and risks that face millions of people. Throughout the book, Weiss provides  strategies for coping with the credit crunch, housing bust,  global investing, foreign currencies, and commodities.

Book available on Amazon UK see link below.

The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide: Protect Your Savings, Boost Your Income, and Grow Wealthy Even in the Worst of Times: Protect Your Savings, Boost … Grow Your Wealth Even in the Worst of Times