Money Guide Ireland

Just a  reminder to all landlords and owners of second homes in Ireland. The new NPPR tax on Non Residential Private Property is due to be paid in full by next Wednesday 30th September 2009.
Read more about this new Irish property tax here.

The charge applies to  residential dwellings that are not the sole/main residence of the owner. It appears that owners of most rented property , holiday homes or even vacant property in Ireland will be liable – even if they live abroad. The online payment system at NPPR.ie allows for registration without a PPS number for those owners living outside Ireland. The charge can be paid online with Mastercard or Visa or Laser.  It isn’t clear how payments by cheque will be accepted in currencies other than Euro .

It will be interesting to see if the effort required to collect this tax will end up costing more than it generates in income.

More NPPR Information

Spur Steak and Grill restaurants have a “Buy One get One Free” offer on all main courses Steaks until October 23rd 2009. (Offer altered today 24th Sept)
Just print off the voucher below and bring it with you to claim your free steak . (Cheapest one is free).

The voucher is valid all day every day . Spur have restaurants in Liffey Valley Dublin and The Crescent Shopping Centre Limerick . See the Menu Here . (not sure if the prices are up to date on that menu)
They have had some good reviews for family dining on Rollercoaster .

Click to See Full Size Voucher

Now that  all the new students have hopefully lodged their loans or grants in to their new student bank accounts – the shops are trying to make them spend some of that money on clothes.

For the men – Burtons are offering a 15% discount in their online shop if you register on this page. They ask for a student ID number – but it doesn’t get checked. This offer – they say – is limited but no end date is given. The discount is applicable even on clothes in the sale.

For the ladies – Dorothy Perkins also are giving 15% discount on all items online. Just register your student details (wink,wink) on this page and your shopping basket will get 15% knocked off. (Expires Oct 11th 2009)

If you want to go to  a real shop and you have a real student ID – then Dorothy Perkins say they will give a 15% discount in store too. No voucher or code is required.
(The prices are probably cheaper online though because of the weak sterling excange rate – back to around 90p to the Euro today)

Both of these online shops deliver to Ireland for the same price as delivery in the UK – which is rare.

I believe there are a lot more mature students these days ……  : )

As mentioned here in August – Ulster Bank are now issuing Visa Debit cards to new customers instead of laser cards. The changeover began on Sept 14th and exisiting customers will all get replacement Visa Debit cards by the end of 2010.
Any customer requesting a replacement card for a damaged or lost one will get a Visa Debit card.
Laser cards were not widely accepted online – so this change will make online shopping much easier for those people without a credit card. The Visa Debit card can  be used anywhere that a Visa credit card is accepted . Even under 18′s can get one.
Find which online shops deliver to Ireland .

One other  good thing about the debit card is that you can’t spend money that you don’t have.

Get 20% off all irishrail.ie bookings with this special discount code   TWT1007 This code os valid on all bookings made before  midnight Tuesday 22/09/09

Some recent  financial articles in the press are saying that now is a good time to fix your mortgage rate in Ireland because variable rates could be on the way up again.
It is failry unlikely that variable rates will drop anymore – so the only way they can go is up.
PTSB raised their variable rates a few weeks ago and this week EBS hinted that they might be increasing ariable rates in early 2010.
Some of these press articles are based on quotes from  mortgage brokers – who of course will probably benefit financially if borrowers switch lenders through them. With new buyers thin on the ground the brokers may be hoping to generate some income from switchers.

The best 3 year fixed rate mortgage available at the moment is 3.19% from AIB (Max LTV 92%). The same bank will give new customers with an LTV over 80% a variable rate of  2.65% .  That’s a difference of 0.54% . See current lowest 3 year fixed rate mortgages.
On a  €200k mortgage  over 25 years the repayments on the  2.65% variable would be €912 a month  . Repayments would be €968 on the fixed rate of 3.19%  – that’s €56 a month more.
Some lenders variable mortgage rates are already higher than the AIB fixed rate – NIB, Ulster, PTSB , KBC and Halifax are all above 3.19%.
The lowest  5 year fixed rate of 3.86% – is also available at AIB . See lowest 5 year fixed rate mortgages here.

Fixing your mortgage now for 3 or 5 years, hoping that this will cushion you against future variable rate rises – is a gamble. It might pay off or it might not. If variable rates remain the same for another year or 18 months and then rise only by 0.25% or 0.5%  – you will probably be worse off if  you fix now.  You will have the certainty of knowing what your payments will be for the next 3 or 5 years – which can be a good thing in itself.
Switching lenders to get a fixed rate will also incur legal and valuation costs which could well exceed any savings you might make.  Bank of Ireland are still offering 1000 euro towards switching costs if you apply direct and not via a broker.

Irish variable mortgage rates may rise even if ECB rates remain at 1%. As we wrote a few weeks ago – the mortgage rates in Ireland are lower than many other Eurozone countries – and with the banks looking to get back into profit the homeowners of Ireland may be hit with higher mortgage rates regardless of ECB rates.

There aren’t many GAP stores in Ireland (1 in Dundrum and 1 in Arnotts ) – but you can get 30% off from Sept 21st to 29th 2009 with this discount voucher.  Only valid on full price items.
GAP don’t do online shopping in Ireland – but see here for more tips on where to do online shopping in Ireland

European  economies are recovering at different speeds which may complicate any efforts by the ECB  to put the Eurozone back on track to a more stable economy.

As the global economy recovers and Germany and France return to growth, the European Commission yesterday cut its forecasts for Spain and Italy. Deutsche Bank  says some of the economies  may stay in recession in 2010 .

The risk is that a recovery in the largest euro nations will prompt the ECB to tighten policy and raise interest rates  before smaller countries like Ireland and Spain are ready. This will possibly restrict these economies that are already struggling with  falling  house prices and  rising  unemployment. That will make it harder for governments and consumers to pay interest on their mounting debt, potentially pushing their borrowing costs higher.

“The ECB will have to normalize rates from next year and it will hurt countries like Spain and Ireland which will still be in recession and burdened by piles of debt,” said Gilles Moec, an economist at Deutsche Bank in London. He forecasts the ECB will double its benchmark interest rate, currently at a record low of 1 percent, by the end of 2010.

According to the OECD - Ireland’s  households are already among the most indebted in the euro region. The Irish economy is forecast to  contract  1.5 percent in 2010 and will proably post the Eurozone’s  biggest budget deficit – while Germany and France are forecast to will both expand 0.2%.