Money Guide Ireland

Here are the latest Dell Ireland Discount codes for January 2010.

The NPPR charge was introduced in Ireland in July 2009 – and  it won’t be long until the 2010 charge has to be paid. The liability date for 2010 and all future years is March 31st.
So if you own a property in Ireland on 31st March  and it is not your main residence you will be liable for the NPPR charge.( Non principal private residences) 

The charge must be paid  within two months of the liability date i.e before 31st May.  A late payment fee is payable after a further month has expired i.e three months after the liability date and one month after the last date for payment. All charges paid after 3o June will attract a late payment fee.
The fee was €200 per dwelling in 2009 – but it may rise in 2010.

The latest price comparison on home insurance by the financial regulator was carried out in December 2009. Their survey of house insurance quotes was  fairly limited and does not include online brokers . Only nine quotes were sought on four different properties.  Even so – it still highlights that you can cut insurance costs by shopping around.

In one example – there was a difference in price of almost €300 a year . This was on  a  3 bedroom semi-detached house in  Dublin 5. with a rebuilding cost of  €234,000 and  contents  worth €46,800 . The highest quote for buildings and contents cover was from Axa at €693 a year. The lowest quote was for €398 at Lloyds via getcover.com. This is a difference of  almost 100% – and the excess was €75 less with the lower priced quote.

Comparing quotes for contents only insurance  showed up a massive difference of 380% between the highest and lowest price. The lowest price for insuring contents worth €32000 was just €75 from FBD Insurance (200 excess) . The highest quote was from Zurich at €286 (250 excess)

Insurance quotes for buildings insurance on a farmhouse worth 210,000 ranged from €288 to €453 – a difference of  €165. In this case the lowest price was from Quinn Direct and the highest from Royal Sun Alliance.

As expected – PTSB have confirmed that variable rate mortgages will rise from 3.19% to 3.69% on Monday 1st February 2010.
The rise will affect about 80,000 mortgage holders – around 45% of its home mortgage customers.
Increased repayments on a 50k mortgage will be  about €15 a month
On a 150k mortgage – the payments will go up by €40 a month
A 250k loan will have increased repayments of €66 a month
A 300k mortgage will mean increase of €80 a month

See some alternatives to PTSB Variable Rates here
- PTSB currently have the lowest 5 year fixed rate mortgage if your LTV is under 50% and you are a new customer.

Best 3 year Fixed rates

Best 5 year fixed rates

Get 15% off at DIY chain B & Q with this Discount Voucher Valid from January 26th to January 29th 2010 .
The voucher doesn’t say that Irish stores are excluded – so there should be no problem using the vouchers here. Vouchers are not valid online – (but they don’t deliver to Ireland anyway )
B&Q don’t deliver in Northern Ireland either  – but all Irish and UK residents can reserve items online at B&Q for collection.

The B&Q reserve and collect feature is great for anyone planning a shopping trip up North. You can check out the items for sale online from home and reserve them (no need to pay until you collect). No more wasted journeys only to find they have run out of what you want.
The weak Sterling means you will probably get a better price over the border than buying in the Irish B&Q’s . (As long as you don’t live too far from the border)

B&Q have stores in Northern Ireland in:

Ballymena – Braid Retail Park
Belfast – Boucher Road
Belfast – Harbour Exchange – Holywood
Coleraine – Riverside Retail Park
Derry/Londonderry Faustina Retail Park
Newry  – Damolly Retail Park on Armagh Road
NewtownAbbey – abbey Retail Park
Craigavon  – Marlborough Retail Park

B&Q have shops in Ireland in

Athlone
Cork Mahon Point Retail Park
Dublin – Liffey Valley
Dublin – Swords Airside Retail Park
Dublin – Tallaght Belgard
Galway West District Centre
Limerick City East Retail Park
Naas Newhall Retail Park
Waterford Butlerstown Retail Park

More Discount Vouchers Here

We are regularly checking and comparing  broadband prices in Ireland.

If you are looking for a nationally available home phone (landline) and broadband package with up to 3Mb speed as well as free landline calls in Ireland at any time of day – The cheapest is currently from Vodafone at €45 per month.

A discount is available if you are a Vodafone Mobile Pay Monthly customer – so you can get this bundle for as little as €40 a month.

This Vodafone  at Home package comes with a 40Gb download limit. An added bonus is that you also get 200 anytime minutes free to three selected Vodafone mobiles. (Worth about €40 Euro )

Vodafone also have 3Mb broadband bundled with free off  peak calls to landlines  for just €40 a month  – which is also the cheapest off peak calls and broadband bundle available nationwide. (You can get it for  just €35 if you are a Vodafone mobile Pay Monthly subscriber.)

Visit Vodafone Ireland Here for more details and other options.

Perlico’s   Freedom Bundle is  still the next cheapest  at €46 a month for  unlimited  local and national landline calls and  3Mb broadband with a 36Gb download limit . It also includes 30 minutes a month of free calls to Irish mobiles.   It isn’t clear what will happen to Perlico now that Vodafone have taken them over .

The price of a 3Mb bundle with free anytime calls from Eircom has actually risen in 2010 to  €56.75 Even with their offer of €10 a month off for 3 months – the price over 12 months works out at €54.25 a month

In some parts of Dublin  Homevision are offering a 3Mb bundle for €45.62  with a 30Gb download limit – - otherwise it’s €51.63 a month

Other monthly prices for similar 3Mb anytime  bundles include:

Imagine – €50 plus €29 connection fee

(Imagine are offering a Wimax bundle for €43.61 Euro a month with 3Mb broadband and unlimited Irish and UK calls – but availability is currently very limited.)

Smart – €54.93

All Prices shown are correct as at January  26th 2010

Anglo Irish Bank are no longer accepting new applications to open a regular saver account – which was paying 4% AER on deposits of up to €1000 a month.
The account could only be held for a year.
See the latest rates on Regular Saver Accounts in Ireland

You can still get €4 off your Tesco Online Shopping with this discount voucher. The voucher is valid on deliveries made before the end of January 2010 and you can print as many as you want – but only use one  per order.