AIB today announced that it is to increase most of its mortgage rates from tomorrow – 30th March  2010.

The standard variable rate for existing owner occupier borrowers will rise by 0.5% – from 2.25 % to 2.75%.

There will also be increases to their  Loan to value (LTV) variable rates by   0.34%. (New and existing customers)

AIB Fixed rate mortgages  for new applicants are also being increased.
3  year fixed rate was  3.19 now 3.65
5 Year fixed rate was 3.86  will now be 4.25

AIB Buy to Let variable rates are unchanged at 4.2%

We are hearing plenty about the problems of the banks in Ireland and according to this – the Irish Government has pumped in €27 billion to the banks in the past year .
What has happened to all the massive bank profits made over the previous years? Who has had all that money? Where has it all gone?

These are the profit figures for AIB , BOI and Anglo Irish in the last 5 years

With all those massive profits – why should the taxpayer be bailing them out?

Get 20% off all train tickets bought online at Irishrail.ie when you use code fb1052 . Valid until  midnight  tonight 29th March 2010 .

William McAteer – he former Financial Director of Anglo Irish Bank has been released without charge from Garda custody.

He was also the Chief Risk Officer at the bank – and was arrested at his home in Rathgar in Dublin by officers from the Garda Fraud Bureau at 6.30am yesterday morning.

The 59 year old was questioned at Irishtown Garda Station as part of the investigation into alleged financial irregularities at Anglo Irish Bank

Last week, the bank’s former Chief Executive Sean Fitzpatrick was also arrested for questioning; he too was subsequently released without charge.

The Credit Card Introductory Offers page has been updated today. Bank of Ireland have withdrawn the 0% option on balance transfers.  See all the 0% offers here.

Former Anglo Irish Bank finance director Willie McAteer has been arrested this morning  at his home in Rathgar, south Dublin. He has been taken for questioning to Irishtown Garda station in Dublin.

Mr McAteer was arrested by members of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, the specialist unit investigating practices and alleged irregularities at Anglo Irish Ban

The arrest of the 59-year-old, who was also formerly the chief risk officer at Anglo,  follows the arrest of the bank’s former chairman Sean FitzPatrick last week. (He was released wuthout charge)

Mr McAteer was one of a number of directors to have been loaned substantial sums by the bank. In March of last year he had a loan of €8 million owing to Anglo. The loan is secured on Anglo shares, which are effectively worthless following the bank’s nationalisation.

Mr McAteer resigned just over 12 months ago . At the end of 2008 Mr McAteer had more shares in Anglo, at 3.5 million, than any other member of the board apart from Mr FitzPatrick.

Anglo Irish is also in the news today – it is expected to announce losses of around €12 Billion Euro later today – but it has also increased the pay of about 70 staff.

Car Hire is probably not a regular purchase for most people – maybe 2 or 3 times a year for holidays or when the main car is out of action.
Most visitors coming to Ireland arrive at Dublin Airport – so we did a quick comparison of prices for 1 week’s car hire at Dublin Airport in May 2010 . The price we compared was for  a manual Ford Focus 4 Door (or similar)  -  These are the prices we were quoted online from various car hire companies for a 45 year old driver. (Quotes obtained March 18th 2010  for 7 days hire from May 1st to 8th 2010)

The cheapest price that we could find for the seven days car hire at Dublin Airport was from  Thrifty – they quoted us €122 ( 94 plus 28 Airport Collection Fee).

Other prices for Car Hire (lowest price first)

Knock Car Hire €132 (VW Golf)
Avis £169 GBP  (approx €190 euro)
Holiday Autos £173  GBP = approx €194 euro
Auto Europe £183  GBP (approx 205 Euro)
Europcar €214 Euro
Budget €229 Euro plus €28 Airport Fee) = €257
Hertz €336 GBP (about €376 Euro)

Of course these prices may well differ when you try and book – but it is a useful guide to the amount you can save by shopping around.  When we did this quick comparison for Dublin car hire – the difference between the cheapest  at Thrifty and the most expensive car hire was almost €250 Euro for a week .
There are reports of a possible car hire shortage in Irleland in 2010 – especially in the summer months – so if you know of anyone needing car hire in Ireland – advise them to book early .

Booking car hire online before you travel is typically cheaper than just turning up at the airport. Also – you have a much better chance of getting the type of car you want when you book in advance online.

Sean Fitzpatrick  -the former Chairman of Anglo Irish bank has been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial irregularites at Anglo Irish Bank.

Gardaí from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation carried out a search of a private residence this morning and arrested Sean Fitzpatrick  who has  been taken to Bray Garda Station.

Sean FitzPatrick stepped down in December 2008 after admitting he had concealed millions of euros in personal loans from the  bank.  He hid the loans from shareholders by temporarily transferring them to another bank before each year-end to avoid revealing them in the accounts.

Anglo Irish was nationalised by the Irish  government in 2009 after it threatened to collapse in the face of a property crash.

Last week Mr FitzPatrick told the bank he could not repay 70m euros  he owes in unpaid loans.

Gardai were called into investigate possible fraud at Irish financial insitutions over a year ago .  Many people will be asking – why did the arrest take so long?

What happened at Anglo Irish that was suspicious?

There was a transfer of nearly 7.5 billion euro from Irish Life and Permanent to Anglo Irish Bank which was paid back fairly quickly.

There were also loans of 451 million euro from Anglo to ten “golden circle” customers, to buy shares in Anglo Irish – which had the effect of propping up the banks market value.
Also  under investigation will be some  loans of 80 million euro to Sean Fitzpatrick by Anglo Irish Bank.