Money Guide Ireland

Here are the latest Dell Ireland Discount codes  – updated regularly.  The codes usually get you 5% off – which doesn’t sound great – but when you are buying something close to €1000 – it’s worth another €50 off.

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 expired Discount Voucher
Valid from January 26th to January 29th 2010 .

You are too late for this discount voucher – but check out some more recent  discount vouchers here

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

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

Tesco Ireland used to do regular discount vouchers in 2009 for €5 off online shopping – but those vouchers seem to have stopped .   We are always on the look out for discount codes and vouchers – take a look at the Latest Discount Vouchers Here

It has been reported in the Sunday Business Post that PTSB  (Permanent TSB) are planning another half percent rise to variable mortgages for existing customers.
The last PTSB rate rise back in July 2009 sparked a lot of reaction and we even saw protests on the streets and the setting up of the Irish Peoples Union! (What good did they do?)
PTSB it seems -  developed an overreliance on the wholesale funding market. Also, – a large proportion  of Permanent TSB’s €40 billion loan book is made up of tracker mortgages that are costing  more to fund than the bank receives in monthly payments from borrowers.

The actual PTSB standard variable rate each customer is on could be different . The number of PTSB customers affected could be somewhere between 50,000 and 70,000 – the actual number is not known.
A  PTSB borrower with a mortgage of  300k over 25 years will see repayments increase by about €80 a month if these rate rises are correct.

Moving on  to one of PTSB’s fixed rates is not really a viable option – they range from 5.25% to 6.1% . Switching to another lender with better rates may be possible for some borrowers  – but not all.  Anyone who owes more than 80% of the value of the house may find it difficult to switch . If you owe less than 80% – i.e your LTV is less than 80% – it might be worthwhile considering a switch. No harm in asking !
Of course – there is nothing to stop the other Irish lenders from raising their standard variable rates in the near future – so a switch to another lender’s variable rate may not save you very much . There are legal fees involved in  switching -  anything from €500 to €1000 and a valuation fee of around €100 to €150.
We wrote here about some pros and cons of switching to a fixed rate a few days ago.
There are 5 year fixed rates still available as low as 3.86% (AIB) and 3.99% (BOI)
There are also  3 year fixed rates as low as 3.15% (Irish Nationwide).

While we were  all worrying  about snow and NAMA ,  taxes and pay cuts – On January 12, a massive earthquake struck Haiti outside the capital of Port-Au-Prince. The devastation is severe: the capital is in ruins, thousands are feared dead, and many more critically injured.
As bad as we may think things are in Ireland – our worries are nothing compared to those facing the people of Haiti.

You can donate money online to some of the charities who will be involved in the relief work in Haiti at the links below . Every little helps… it only takes a few seconds.  Thanks

Donate to Unicef Paypal Accepted

Trocaire

Medicine Sans Frontiere

Global Giving –   Paypal Accepted

Goal