Money Guide Ireland

If you are travelling to the UK or another country that doesn’t use the EURO it is easy to just use your  debit card at an ATM to withdraw Sterling or other currencies – but be aware that your bank will charge you.
The foreign ATM cash withdrawal charges for the main Irish banks are listed below.

Ulster Bank 2% (min €3, max €12), plus foreign exchange fee of 1.5% (But they say no charge in the UK)

AIB – Currency conversion fee of up to 3% (depending on currency) plus commission of 1% (min €1.27, max €6.35)

BOI 3.5% (min €3.17, max €11.43)

Halifax 1.75%

NIB 3.5% (min €3.17, max €11.43)

Postbank €5.00 flat fee

PTSB 3.5% (min €3.17, max €11.43)

We understand the following protection is in place with the following institutions: This is the latest information on the level of guarantee or protection for money held in Irish financial institutions or those operating in Ireland.
Updated January 2010

Allied Irish Banks plc (AIB) Irish Government guarantees all deposits to Sept 2010
Anglo Irish Bank Corp. Irish Government guarantees all deposits to Sept 2010
Irish Life & Permanent plc (PTSB) Irish Government guarantees all deposits to Sept 2010
Bank of Ireland - -Irish Government guarantees all deposits to Sept 2010
EBS Building Society Irish Government guarantees all deposits to Sept 2010
Irish Nationwide Building Society Irish Government guarantees all deposits to Sept 2010

Read more about the Extension to the September 2010 Guarantee here

Post Office Savings Bank;(Not Postbank) below. State body Irish Government guarantees all deposits (always did)

ACC Bank Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;
Bank of Scotland (Ireland) t/a Halifax Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;
Danske t/a National Irish Bank The Danish Financial Regulator While Danske t/a National Irish Bank is a branch of an overseas institution;the Minister for Finance has confirmed that savers with branches of overseas banks operating in Ireland will benefit from the enhanced €100k guarantee providing the branch concerned has confirmed its intention to the Financial Regulator to participate in Ireland’s Deposit Guarantee Scheme.;Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;

Credit Unions Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;
First Active plc Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;
ICS Building Society;Note: ICS is a subsidiary of BOI and can apply to Govt for full guarantee – but currently is under the Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;
IIB Bank Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;
Pfizer International Bank Europe Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;
Postbank Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;Full details here
Ulster Bank Irish Deposit Protection Scheme – 100% of deposits up to max. €100,000;

Credit institutions covered by other schemes

Rabobank The Dutch Central Bank Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme;100% of the first €20,000, 90% of the next €20,000.;Doubled for joint account holders.
Investec Bank (UK) Ltd The UK FSA Financial Services Compensation Scheme;100% of the first £50,000 per person.
Leeds Building Society The UK FSA Financial Services Compensation Scheme;100% of the first £50,000 per person.
Northern Rock The UK FSA Deposits held with Northern Rock are guaranteed in full by the Bank of England and HM Treasury.

With ECB rates still at an all time low – and with hints of a possible rise on the way because of EU inflation – is now a good time to fix your mortgage rate ?
Variable mortgage rates are still as low as as they have ever been – and some of the lowest  fixed rate mortgages are looking attractive if you can get them.

The lowest  3 year fixed rate available in Ireland now is  3.19% from AIB.
AIB also offer the best  5 Year fixed rate of  3.86% .
See the lowest 3 year fixed rates here – Lowest 5 Year fixed Rates here

If you are already with AIB on a variable rate mortgage  -  it should be just a matter of asking to go on to the fixed rate. There should be no fees to switch from variable to fixed with the same lender . Fixing your rate is not definitely going to be a better option for all borrowers – especially those already on a low variable rate or tracker rate.
If you need to switch lenders to get a good fixed rate – it might be more difficult and costly. Most lenders will only lend up to 92% of the value  of the property – so if the value of your house has fallen a lot – you may not be able to switch to a new lender. (more…)

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.

The financial ombudsman in the UK has published some detailed figures about complaints made against financial institutions – and the outcome of those complaints. For the first time they have also published the names of the institutions involved – something the Irish Financial Ombudsman does not yet do .

Here are some figures from the UK on 2008/2009 complaints made about some UK companies with Irish connections or operating in Ireland . These figures may be of interest in the absence of similar figures from our financial ombudsman. Tesco and Northern Rock didn’t come out too well while Halifax Insurance had the least complaints upheld. (NB: These figures are nothing to do with their Irish operations – just the UK based ones)

Tesco Personal Finance 267 new cases   78% upheld
Northern Rock 593 new cases  78% upheld
Ulster Bank 67 new cases   76% upheld
Bank of Ireland 336 new cases  62% upheld
AIB Group UK 90 new cases  51% upheld
Quinn Insurance 67 new cases   45% upheld
Royal & Sun Alliance 372 new cases  36% upheld
Allianz Insurance 200 new cases   34% upheld
Halifax Insurance Ireland 74 new cases   27% upheld

There were a totalof 789877 initial enquiries made to the  UK  ombudsman which led to 127471 full blown cases.
The Irish Financial ombudsman had  3876 complaints in the first 6 months of 2009 – which equates to  7752 a  year.
This is about 6 % of the UK ombudsman complaints figure – which is broadly in line with the population differences between the UK and Ireland.

Banks are always trying to attract students with various offers and  incentives. The banks know that once they get a customer  – the majority will remain with the same bank for many years to come.  The reason I chose the bank I did for  my  first current account as a student (pre internet) – back in the eighties – was because it was Freepost – so  I didn’t need a stamp to send off the application form.  These days the banks are using more than the price of a stamp to try and attract students.
The big three Irish banks AIB , Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank all have special deals to try and attract  students

Ulster Bank – in our opinion is offering the best deal. They are offering €100 to all new student account holders -   €50 will be deposited into your account by the end of December, and €50 by the end of January 2010.
You must make 3 transactions per month from the time you open your account, in order to qualify for this offer.
Ulster Bank also offer an Interest-free overdraft of €650. You can actually apply for an interest free overdraft of up to €2,800 depending on what year of your course you are in (subject to approval). You have to repay the overdraft within one year of finishing your course. If you hang on a few more days – you will probably get a Visa Debit card instead of a laser card – which is another reason to choose Ulster Bank. (Much easier for online shopping)

Bank of Ireland is offering a free return flight to new third-level students who open an account with them. The flights leave from Dublin and Cork to London, Edinburgh, Paris
Frankfurt, Milan, Berlin, Stockholm, Amsterdam or  Brussels.
Students have to open an account before October 16th  and then use the account five times in October and five times again in November. The free flight vouchers will probably not be sent out until early 2010.  With Ryanair offering cheap flights to most of these destinations – this ticket offer may not be worth much more than €100 .
BOI also offer 9 months interst free loans to students of up to €2000

AIB are offering €50 to anyone opening a new student account  with them. You have to carry out 3 Top Ups by Text using the AIB Top Up by Text service and 3 other transactions (lodgements/withdrawals) on your AIB Student Plus Account by 30th November 2009 in order to get this €50 . You must also be registered for AIB Phone & Internet Banking to use the AIB Top Up by Text service.
AIB also give you a voucher for a free student travelcard (worth €12).

The competition between the banks for First Time Buyer mortgages is resulting in some good 1 year fixed rates. Bank of Ireland have annoinced a rate of 2.45% fixed for 1 year (FTB only). This comes 1 day after AIB launched a 1 year fixed rate of  2.49%.

See all the Best Mortgage Rates in our Mortgage Best Buys section

Allie Irish bank have made some changes to mortgage interest rates for new customers that came into effect today (Feb 16th 2009). Previousl they had one standard variable rate for all LTVs – but now they charge higher rates for bigger LTVs. The best variable rate from AIB is available for borrowers who want to borrow  less than 50% of the value of their house. (3.25%) . Halifax will give similar borrowers a rate of just 3.15%.
AIB’s rate for an LTV between 80% and 92% is now  3.65%. Last week the same housebuyer could have got 3.25%.  By introducing these new bands – AIB have managed to reverse some of the recent cuts they made to mortgage rates after ECB rate cuts.  See all the lowest mortgage rates on the menu to the right.