Money Guide Ireland

National Irish Bank recently launched a new online savings account called the eSaver. It pays a rate of 3% on deposits from €1 to €50k. If a withdrawal is made – then the rate on the whole balance falls to 1% for the month of the withdrawal.
This account has one of the better interest rates for Irish savers – but there are slightly better rates to be had on instant access accounts at Halifax , Anglo Irish and Nationwide UK. See the list of the Best On Demand savings rates.

Cheapest Mobile Broadband -
You can get a mobile internet connection from all the Irish mobile providers as well as Eircom who recently started offering mobile broadband.

When doing a comparison of mobile internet prices in Ireland – there actually isn’t much difference in the prices from the various suppliers. The figure of €19.99 a month seems to be a very popular price to charge.

Given that the prices for mobile broadband in Ireland are pretty much the same for all providers – it is things like coverage, speed and download limits that are the main things to look out for when choosing a provider.
Coverage will vary according to location – so you really need to try it out if possible before you buy or at least check the providers coverage maps. Advertised speeds are the maximum possible – in many places you may never get speeds as high as those stated.

The biggest download limit on mobile broadband in Ireland is currently 15Gb

A 15Gb download limit is available from O2 :
€19.99 a Month; Speed upto 7Mbps ; Download Limit 15Gb ;18 month contract (€25 a month for 12 month contract).  Modem Prices vary depending on model selected (Some are  €19 , some €69) . Visit O2 Mobile Broadband Here

Vodafone Mobile Broadband is available for €19.99 a month  -  10Gb Data Limit Free Modem  ; Max Speed 7Mbps ;   Contract  12 months. Vodafone also offer Pay as You Go Mobile broadband for €5 a day (only pay for the days you use it)

Eircom €19.99 ; 10Gb Limit ; Speed up to 7Mb ; Modem Free for Eircom customers or 9.99 for others. 12 month contract

Three ;  Price -  €19.99 a month again – Max speed  7Mb; Download Limit 15Gb; Contract 18 months ;  modem  €49.  Pay as You go available for €25 with 10Gb limit

Meteor €19.99 a month ;  Only available in certain cities in Ireland  15Gb Data Limit ; 7Mb Max Speed; Modem Cost €79;  Contract Min 18 Months.  Pay as you Go 19.99 a month with 7.5Gb limit

All prices correct  at November  8th 2009

Read about who has the lowest prices for Home Phone and Broadband .

If your home insurance policy is up for renewal -  you should always do a comparison with quotes from  other insurers  before you renew with your current insurer – you could save yourself some  money.

We did an online comparison of house insurance prices  for a bungalow in County Mayo  with rebuilding costs of €250k and contents cover of €40k. Cover for accidental damage is included, house has no burglar alarm , 2 smoke alarms and the policy has a €125 excess. The quotes used in the comparison were obtained online from insurance providers and brokers websites on August 17th 2009

123.ie  €345.62  was the lowest quote.

Quotedevil.ie  €354.25
Getcover.com €374.62
Allianz  Direct €376.69
Pibasure  €382.95
Insure.ie  €385  – but  with 250 excess
Zurich  €405.40
Ulster Bank – the renewal quote €416.62
FBD Insurance   €409.97
Chill.ie  quoted €438 for a matching policy
QuoteMe  €472 was the cheapest they could find-  and ithad a 250 excess
Hibernian Aviva   €490.57  was the most expensive quote.

Overall – the difference between the most expensive and the cheapest quote was €145 Euro  not an insignificant amount for an hours effort.
We did try some other insurance web sites to compare but there were some problems.

One Direct – their online quote wouldn’t work – just got an error message.
Quinn Direct – the site froze our computer (Using Firefox)
Bestquote.ie – came up with an error message “failed to contact mail server”
Simply Mortgages – no online home quote was possible
Axa – no online quote possible
Tesco Ireland don’t do House Insurance.

Today is the day of the first round CAO offers for third level places in Ireland.  Thousands of Leaving Cert students will be logging into the CAO web site to check offers from universities and colleges. With jobs harder to find in 2009 more people are applying for third level courses – and a bigger percentage of them will probably not be accepted this year. Todays CAO offers must be accepted by 25th August. The second round of CAO offers takes place – if there are any remaining places  – on 28th August.
There is financial help available in Ireland in the form of means tested maintenance grants – which are available at various levels to students whose parents can have incomes as high as €56k in certain cases. Anyone with parents earning under €41k gross will get the full grant which is  €3,420a year if the institute is more than 24km from their home address.

There are no tuition fees in Irish third level institutions – but it looks like the government could be bringing tuition fees back soon (means tested)

The CAO Login Page can be found here 

Having a bad credit history can affect your future ability to obtain loans, credit cards or mortgages. In Ireland most lenders send information about borrowers and their repayments to a central agency, the Irish Credit Bureau (ICB). The ICB holds information about borrowers and their loans for 5 years after any loan is closed. This information is held in an individual credit ‘report’ that is kept by the ICB about each borrower.
When you sign a mortgage or loan application you automatically give your lender permission to send information about your repayments to a credit reference agency such as ICB, and to seek information about your credit history. If your credit history is poor, the financial institution unlikely to give you a loan even if you have the income to repay it. There are some lenders that will lend money to people with poor credit rating – but you will probably pay a higher interest rate. Once you have built up a good repayment history – you should be able to switch loans to another lender.
A bad credit rating would result from missing repayments on loans or failing to clear off any loan or having legal action taken against you by a lender.

It is possible that there could be an error in your credit history – if there is you will need to ask your lender/ financial institution to write to the ICB with details of the change. You should ask for a copy of any letter that is sent .
If you experience problems or delays or if your lender fails to put things right for you, you can consider making a formal complaint and referring the matter to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

Under Data Protection Acts, anyone is entitled to receive a full copy of any data, which is held in your respect on ICB’s Database.
You must complete an application form to enable ICB to process your request. There is a €6 euro fee.
You can contact the Irish Credit Bureau by phone (01) 2600388 and request an application form.

You can get €50 discount on any flight and hotel package booked on Expedia.ie
You have to travel before 30th September 2009 and book before 15th September 2009 and the booking value needs to be €500 or higher (before taxes and fees).
Get your Discount Code Here

I manged to book flights and 3 nights B&B for two people in a 4 star Paris hotel for €760.55 . With the €50 discount that came to €710.55  . (Sept 11th to 14th)

Be aware that the minimum spend is €500 before taxes/fees. It is a bit of a pain because the taxes aren’t actually shown – so you don’t know if your trip qualifies for the discount until you try to use it. I had to try a few combinations   before the discount code was accepted.
There are also good deals available at Expedia on Flight and Hotel packages from Dublin to Cork – I saw prices of under €600 for a week’s B&B for 2  in Jurys Cork including flights.

You could also look here for hotel accommodation in Ireland

Eircom are still offering free phone line connections until August 31st 2009.
If you want a landline connection in Ireland – Eircom are the only company that can do the connection. Prices of connection vary – depending on the circumstances. The most expensive connection charge would be for a  property that has never had a landline connection previously – i.e a new house. The charge for  that is currently €121.93. The lowest charge would be €25.09
This  free offer is for residential customers only.

Halifax, the retail arm of Bank of Scotland Ireland, were for ages the only bank in Ireland to offer a Visa Debit card.   From mid or late September 2009 – Ulster Bank is going to move  from using Laser cards to using Visa Debit cards.
The Laser debit card is the main one in use in  the Irish market -  but these are generally not accepted for transactions outside Ireland.

Existing Ulster Bank customers with Maestro/Laser cards can continue to use those cards as normal.  They  will receive  new Visa Debit cards on request  as a replacement or automatically when  their current card expires.

A Visa Debit  card can be used for point-of-sale transactions as well as those online and on the telephone, while also operating as an ATM and a cheque guarantee card.

The main benefit the Visa Debit card has over other debit cards in Ireland is that it can be used internationally, with acceptance in over 24m locations worldwide and through one of the world’s largest ATM networks. It will remove the need for having a credit card to shop online – which is good news for younger people and many others who just can’t get a credit card.They can now take advantage of the lower prices and better choices available at online shopping sites.

If you are looking for information about Visa Electron cards – to avoid the credit card fee on sites like Ryanair – read our post about Where to Get a Visa Electron Card