Money Guide Ireland

The underlying trend in sterling remains positive.
At close of business yesterday  (June 22nd) the Pound was worth €1.1755 Euro. There seems to be a correction to the over-selling of sterling in winter 2008/09. Also the rising price of oil has boosted the UK currency in relation to the currencies of major oil importers, notably the US, eurozone and Japan.

To enquire about getting good exchange rates on larger amounts of currencies – you should try one of our currency broker partners. They will always giveyou a betterexchange rate than your bank – and lower (or zero) transaction fees.

Check out Currency Solutions  or   Currency UK  for good deals on large currency transactions. Euros , Sterling or any other currency.

The Family Saver account from EBS which is a fixed rate regular savings account – has had it’s rate reduced from 5.1% to 4.5%.  It is still one of the better regular savings accounts in Ireland – but AIB and Anglo Irish still have better rates. The fact that the EBS rate is fixed for a year might just give it a slight advantage – although the falling interest rates seem to have come to a halt at the moment.

See all the best regular saver accounts in Ireland 

It looks like fixed rate mortgages are starting to rise again. EBS, AIB, NIB have all increased fixed rate mortgages in recent days. If you are thinking of fixing – there are not many lenders offering 10 year fixes in Ireland. Of those that do -  Haven mortgages offer the lowest (as at June 18th) with 4.49% (Max LTV 80%). It is likely this rate will rise soon.
Visit our page of the Lowest 10 Year Fixed Rate Mortgages

Get Ten Euro discount on your online shopping from Tesco Ireland with this voucher valid until 21st June on spends over €80  EXPIRED

Tesco Ireland Latest Offers

Travel Insurance – is one of those last minute purchases that we don’t do too much research on. Is there really that much difference in the cost of travel insurance in Ireland? Is it worth shopping around to save money?
We obtained some online quotes for a 9 day trip in Europe for a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 children aged 6, 15 and 19). Some sites allowed us to treat the 19 year old as a child if they are in full time education. Other sites made us treat them as adults.

Quotes for the single trip travel insurance cover ranged from  €30 at  Aceinsure.ie  up to €69.20 at CoverMe.ie  (They wouldn’t treat the 19 yearold as a child).
These are the prices we were quoted for single trip travel insurance. (No cover for winter sports or golf ). The most expensive we found was more than twice the price of the cheapest policy.

Aceinsure.ie  €30
Justcover  €34.24
Insurancebookers.ie  €35.80
Hibernian Aviva €36
AIB  €38
Getcover.com €60.59
Quoteme.ie  €69.20

If you think you will be going abroad more than once in the next 12 months – it is worth taking out a multitrip anual travel cover instead of buying separate insurance cover for the two trips. It will almost always work out cheaper.
We were quoted the following prices for annual travel cover.

Justcover.ie €69.50
Allianz  €71.70
Aceinsure.ie   €73
Hibernian   €80
Getcover.com €91.89
AIB €92
Insurancebookers.ie   €154.80

None of the party being insured had existing health insurance. The prices may have been lower if we had private health insurance because that would cover most of the medical costs.

Take a look at our comparison of  Electricity prices in Ireland   – which we will keep updated with any changes as they happen.
Switching  electricity supplier from ESB could save someone using 600 units a month as much as €166 Euro a year. The lowest priced electricity is from Bord Gais – but you have to be also a gas customer and pay by Direct Debi to get that rate. This option isn’t available to non gas users – so the cheapest option for them is to move to Airtricity with their level payment plan paying by direct debit.
If you are not a fan of direct debits – the lowest price is available from  Bord Gais.
A quick phone call or filling in of an online form could save you over a a  hundred euro a year – not bad for a few minutes effort. See the full list of Electricity Prices compared here

The European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged today – still at a record low of 1.0 percent .

Most economists  had forecast that  the ECB would to leave rates on hold. Euro zone inflation is low and the economy is shrinking fast, although some data have shown signs of improvement. The markets will be keen to see whether Trichet gives any signals that the ECB plans to keep rates low for a lengthy period, or alternatively, whether they could be reduced further.

With the large audiences in Ireland for UK television – it is possible you may have seen the ads for IVA’s – Individual Voluntary Arrangements. These are for people in trouble with debts.
An IVA is a formal process available in the UK  (including Northern Ireland) that is carried out via the county courts and  has to be arranged through an Insolvency Practitioner (IP). The IP  submits a proposal for an IVA to the court and to the creditors. The proposal must be approved by 75% (by value) of the  creditors. Providing it is approved, it is binding on them all. Typically payments are made under the terms of an IVA for 5 years , at the end of that period the person is  free of all the debts that the IVA covers. (Even if the full amount was not paid back!)
There is a fee charged by the Insolvency Practitioners for arranging and supervising the IVA.  (These fees are usually taken from the repayments and have been known to be as much as £8000 ) It must be a profitable business judging by the amount of companies offering to do it.  An IVA stays on the UK  credit file for 6 years.

In Ireland there is not an equivalent to the IVA -  If your debts get to the stage where you are issued with a summons – the initial summons will give you a number of options, which give you the chance to either admit you owe the money, or to defend the claim because you feel you do not owe all or some of the amount claimed.
The Irish legal system does not provide the chance for you to agree that you owe the money and to ask the court to consider an affordable offer of payments that suit your means. You have to try and do this informally outside of the court process.
Before your debts get to the stage of a court case  you should try and contact your creditors to let them know you are in difficulty. Work out a budget and how much you can afford to pay back a month.  Reputable lenders will normally be reasonable if they know the circumstances.
If you have come to an agreement with creditors to pay off a certain amount  each week or month – make sure you keep up the payments .  If a creditor does not accept a reasonable offer of repayment, seek advice from   Money Advice and Budgeting Service  (MABS) .  The MABS web site has plenty of information about debt problems and how to deal with them.