Money Guide Ireland

EBS launch new 7.25% Interest Account for Regular Savers

Moneymate — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:36:00 +0000

The new EBS Optimise Flexible Savings Plan has an interest rate of 7.25% E.A.R*

They promise that the interest rate will be a minimum of 3.25% over European Central Bank (ECB) until 01/06/2009, thereafter the rate will not be less than ECB rate until the 30th of April 2010
Minimum monthly deposit of €20 to a maximum of €1,000 per month
Instant access
See where it comes in our Best Buys in Regular Savings accounts . It’s not the highest rate - but it comes a close 4th.

Cheapest Phone and Broadband Package

Moneymate — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:56:53 +0000

The increased amount of broadband providers in Ireland is welcome because more competition should mean lower prices - but finding out which supplier is the cheapest can be a bit of a task.
I used the Comreg callcosts site to find out which provider would be the cheapest for my needs.
I was looking for min 1Mb broadband speed . I am mainly a weekday peak hours landline telephone user and don’t make many calls to mobiles or international calls. I could make around 2 hours of local calls a day and maybe an hour and a half on national calls (busy person!) . I entered all these details into the Comreg database and the cheapest supplier came out as Perlico at €47.41 a month for my usage.
When I went to the Perlico website I found that with the Freedom Bundle I would also get 50 minutes of calls to mobiles or international calls a month included for free for 6 months. I also found that until the end of June the package is on special offer from Perlico of just €39.99 a month for the first 6 months and if I signed up online I would get a free wireless modem too. This was the lowest price I could find for line rental and all my landline calls in Ireland at anytime of the day plus 1Mb broadband . Even at the full price of €46.99 it was the lowest price.
The closest price to Perlico for my circumstances - was Digiweb with their Metro Lite Talk offer. You don’t ned a phone line with the Digiweb broadband and phone package - but it is a wireless system only available in certain towns in Ireland and not in rural areas. According to Comreg - going with Digiweb would cost me 48.20 a month on average. Digiweb also do a normal phone line package with broadband .
Other suppliers that I might want to avoid - would be Eircom which came out as costing €55.99 a month and Talk Talk at €57.48 a month for my usage.

AIB Increasing Mortgage Rates

Moneymate — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:24:41 +0000

AIB have finally decided to increase many of their mortgage rates. Allied Irish is the last Irish lender to raise mortgage rates - many others have already increased rates over the past 3 months because of higher borrowing costs between banks (The Credit Crunch as it has been called by the media). See our Best Buys for the Lowest Mortgage Rates

From June 16th the AIB Tracker Rates will rise by 0.40% for new customers. The lowest tracker from AIB is now 5% (ECB plus 1%)
Their 3 Year Fixed Rate remains unchanged at 5.25% and the standard variable rate also remains at 5.25%

1 yr Fixed was 5.50% now 5.95%
2 yr Fixed was 5.15% now 5.75%
4 yr Fixed was 5.20 now 5.75
5 yr Fixed was 5.20 now 5.65

Anglo Irish Bank Reduce Savings Rates

Moneymate — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:10:54 +0000

Anglo Irish Bank have lowered rates on many of it’s deposit accounts. At a time when borrowing rates are rising it may seem strange. The changes are as follows.
Instant Access has dropped from 4.50% to 4.00%.
7 Day Notice has dropped from 4.55% to 4.05%.
30 Day Notice has dropped from 4.75% to 4.65%.

See Best Buys for Irish Deposit Accounts here

Anglo Irish 8% Interest on New Regular Saver

Moneymate — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:42:30 +0000

Anglo Irish Bank have launched a New Regular “Annual” Saver Account paying 8% gross/AER/ (variable). The rate is guaranteed to be at least ECB + 2% for the term.
The new account is only available for 12 months and you can make unlimited withdrawals after 6 months. The maximum monthly contribution limit is €1,000 and payments can stop or start as often as customer wishes, and can be multiple per month .

(The Anglo Irish current Regular Saver Account (2 year term) is closed for new applications from close of business Monday, June 9th 2008.)

15% Discount Code at Dell June 2008

Moneymate — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:57:21 +0000

You can get 15% off any XPS or Inspiron over €899 at Dell using this special discount code. QQQ8N0HWCSJ0V7
Use the code at the checkout and you will get 15% off . Visit Dell from here to use the code. Code valid until June 11th 2008

New Regular Saver 10% Interest - Parents only

Moneymate — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:15:11 +0000

AIB today launched a savings product called the Parent Saver Plan,

It is two accounts that run side by side - and are for parents with children under 18.
The Parent Saver Account is a regular monthly savings account and has an interest rate of 10.00% A.E.R. variable
The maximum deposit is just €200 per month . This rate is only for 12 months - after that the balance in this account is automatically transferred to a Parent Deposit Account. with a rate of 3.00% A.E.R. variable.
Unpenalised access to funds in both accounts at any time.

The rate of 10.00% on the Parent Saver Account is a variable interest rate and promises to remain at ECB + 6% until 20th May 2009. Thereafter it will match ECB + 4% until 2010.

The regular saver account is the highest interest rate of any regular saver in Ireland - but the low limits on deposits may put people off.
If you put the maximum 200 euro a month into the account you will earn 102.48 after Tax in a year.

Get Money for your Old Mobile Phone

Moneymate — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:12:38 +0000

We are always getting new mobiles - and the old ones just get left in the bottom of a drawer or even worse dumped in the bin. Mobile phones can be recycled - there are plenty of reusable parts in them. If your old handset is less than 4 years old you could get cash for it and play your part in helping the environment by recycling.
If your old mobile is working, has a battery, is of European or UK spec and is not barred - you can exchange it for CASH.

Envirofone is an online mobile phone recycling site. You can check the make and model of your phone online and they give you a price for it. You then just post your old phone (Freepost) to Envirofone who after checking the condition send you the agreed price. If you have phones that are more than 4 years old you can still send them FREE for recycling but you won’t get paid.

ECB Rate Remains at 4%

Moneymate — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:13:55 +0000

Homeowners with tracker mortgages will not be getting any reductions in repayments yet. The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its benchmark interest rate at 4% yesterday.
Forecasts for 2008:
Some of the “experts” forecasts on ECB rates in 2008

IIB Bank economist Austin Hughes, said ” we expect rate cuts totaling 50 basis points before the end of 2008 and a further easing in the early part of next year.”

John Beggs, Chief Economist of AIB Bank said: ” rate cuts may amount to no more than 50bps in total by end 2008/early 2009 ”

Simon Barry, Senior Economist at Ulster Bank sticks with their forecast that official rates will be left on hold this year.

NIB LTV Tracker Rates Rising May 12th

Moneymate — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:58:06 +0000

If you didn’t take any notice of our last article about switching your mortgage to NIB - it could be too late for some of you. For many others the savings you could make will be reduced.
From May 12th - NIB (National Irish Bank) are increasing some of their rates on the “LTV” mortgage. If you are borrowing less than 50% of the value of your house - the rate is unchanged at 4.5% (ECB plus 0.5%).
All other rates will be rising under a new pricing structure which is easier to understand and calculate.
Basically the mortgage rate is directly related to your LTV . An LTV of 66% gets you a rate of ecb plus 0.66% (4.66) ; An LTV of 70% will qualify you for a mortgage at ecb plus 0.7% (4.7%) etc etc - max LTV 80%.
This means that NIB are not as cheap as they were - but for LTVs up to 74% they still offer the lowest tracker rates in Ireland. They are no longer covering legal fees for people who switch their mortgage to them. I told you - you should have switched ages ago!

For LTVs from 75% to 80% - AIB currently have the lowest tracker rate of ECB plus 0.75 or 4.75%.