VHI customers now face €50 fee for switching mid-contract

THE STATE’S largest private health insurer, the VHI, has begun imposing fees on customers who cancel their insurance cover midway through the year.
Since May 1st it has been charging a €50 cancellation fee to those who switch insurers midway through their 12-month contracts, and is also insisting on clawing back from them part of the annual Government levy it pays on their behalf.

From: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/0527/1224297854524.html?digest=1

FS

Get in touch

Unfortunatly i wont be able to get any posting done over the next week or so, send an email to finsncialsenseblog@gmail.com if you want me to cover anything on my return or if you have come across any good deals.

Speak soon.

FS

Save money on your heating bills

With a fairly hefty gas increase coming down the lines this Autumn, there are things you can do to reduce the pain, these are just a few simple tips.

• Reduce the number of rooms that are heated...turn the rads off in that dining room that's only used at Christmas!
• Use your timer effectively, no need to have it on for hours before you come home from work, it should be sufficient to set it to come on 30 minutes before you arrive.
• Turn the heat off an hour before bed, the rads will continue to warm your room for a while.
• Turning your thermostat down by 1 degree can save up to 10% on your bills.
• How warm are your rooms? Living rooms should be about 20 degrees and bedrooms are most comfortable at 18 c.
• Close doors in the house, it will help keep the warmth in and prevent heat loss from unheated parts of your home.
• Make sure windows and doors are shut and sealed properly, check for drafts and remedy.
• Close your curtains, this will help retain heat in a room.
• Don't let curtains overhang rads as that will block the heat output.
• If your cold, pop a jumper on!

If your in a a older house you may look at making more drastic changes with insulation which could save you a lot of money over time. Grants are available for insulation, look at Sustainable Energy Ireland for Details: http://www.seai.ie/

PS. Every home that is put up for sale/rent must now have a BER cert (Building Energy Rating). The cert will provide a grade of energy efficiency from A(Best) to G(Worst). Energy efficient homes will be more attractive to potential buyers. This is another reason to look at adequately insulating your home.

FS

UPC Broadband customers getting a welcome boost

UPC definitely has the most attractive broadband product in the Irish market offering up to 100 Mb. There is good news for existing customers this week as many have had their broadband speed upgraded for no extra charge.

Its always good to see companies rewarding loyalty and they should be congratulated on that front.

FS

Foreign phone call charges

Don't ask me how they do it but its possible to call Australia, USA and a lot of other countries for only two cent per minute....from your mobile!

Tesco mobile and others offer these sort of charges, which really begs the question why the same company charges 20 cent for a call WITHIN Ireland.

Anyhow, at these rates its probably worth getting a Tesco sim card if your likely to be making a lot of overseas calls, plus you get Tesco Clubcard points and free credit for your trouble. Details in the link below.

http://www.tescomobile.ie/international/index.aspx

FS

Pension Levy: Update

A Department of Finance official has indicated that ARF (Approved Retirement Funds) will escape the pension Levy announced on Tuesday.

More to follow when details of the levy are announced over the coming weeks.

FS

Jobs Initiative, Main Points

 A 0.6 per cent levy on pension funds to raise €470 million a year.VAT on tourism-related goods and services will be cut to 9 per cent.

Air travel tax will be suspended.

Employers’ PRSI for workers on below €356 a week will be halved.

The minimum wage to be restored to €8.65 per hour from July 1st.

Extra funds for work on regional roads and schools.

More training places, back to education initiatives and internship scheme will provide 20,900 places.

Get help with your Financial Problems

If you are experiencing financial difficulties the first thing to do is to ask for help. Closing your eyes to your problems will only cause you unnecessary stress.

If your debts are mounting and your 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' just to get by, the first thing to do is to budget your money correctly and get a true sense of your financial situation. Your lenders may be in a position to help you restructure your debts/payments into a more manageable package, generally speaking if your open and honest with them, they will treat you fairly.

For a lot of people however they may feel overwhelmed with their situation, they don't even know where to start to put themselves on the path to recovery. Luckily there is an agency which can help you, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service will help you take control again. They will budget your money, work out a payment plan for your debts/utility bills and there is no cost involved.

Contact them http://www.mabs.ie/ and they will schedule a meeting for you. As you can imagine they are extraordinarily busy at the moment and you may need to wait a few weeks but it will be worth it. There are a number of private budgeting services who promise to renegotiate your debt but please tread carefully, they do charge fees.

FS

Pension Levy to be announced on Tuesday

Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, will confirm a 0.5% levy on all private pension funds next Tuesday.

They intend to pay for the new governments 'Jobs Initiative' with the levy. It will stay in place for 4 years, to say that this could prove controversial is an understatement. Temporary Levy's in Ireland have a nasty habit of becoming permanent when Governments realise they cannot forgo the income that they generate.

When more is announced i will update with further posts.

FS

Property & Water charges in 2012

It is now almost certain that flat rate property and water charges will be implemented in Budget 2012.

The water tax (or 'utility charge' as minister Phil Hogan is calling it) will be flat at somewhere between €150 and €200 per household. The revenue arising from this will be used to install water meters countrywide so in future the charge will be levied on a pay per use basis with some threshold of free water for each household.

Property tax will also be flat at around €100, irrespective of weather your house is a mansion or a maisonette. This will be replaced in due course with a property specific 'site value tax'.

Taxing people on a flat rate basis is regressive so why do it like this? Well both of these measures are outlined as necessities in the IMF/EU bailout, this is simply the cheapest and fastest way for the government to introduce them.

The always excellent Professor Morgan Kelly give an insight into the bailout in today's Irish times, http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0507/1224296372123.html .

Efficient Driving

Altering your driving style will save you a lot of money. We all have bad habits behind the wheel but by making a few simple changes you could see your fuel consumption drop.

• Ensure that your tires are inflated to the correct pressure, check these once a week.
• Have your car serviced regularly
• Air conditioning uses a lot of energy,cut it out.
• Don't carry extra weight in your car, empty the boot of unnecessary items.
• Always select the highest safe gear when driving.
• Don't drive with your windows open, it creates drag.
• Drive defensively, anticipate the traffic ahead of you.
• Slow yourself using the gears, the foot break uses a lot of power.
• Bringing your car to a complete stop and moving off is very fuel intensive, better to simply coast and the traffic light might etc may clear by the time you reach it.
• If your car has an on board computer you will be able to see how your driving style affects the fuel economy, it will show the Miles Per Gallon/Litres per 100 Km.
• Select your route, going uphill uses a lot of fuel.
• Use cruise control if available for motorway driving.
• Remove outer items like roof boxes/racks.
• Turn off your engine if your likely to be stopped for 3+ minutes.
• Slow down, for every 5 mph above 60 mph (95 kph), your fuel efficiency reduces by 5%.

The ultimate way to save on petrol is to walk or take the bike for shorter journeys.

FS

Just remember things could always be worse!

Financial Services Ombudsman

The Financial Services Ombudsman is a statutory body set up by the Central Bank to investigate and adjudicate on complaints from members of the public against financial service providers.

If you feel you have been miss-sold a product or the advice provided was improper the first step in making a complaint is to approach the provider directly (a bank, building society, life insurance company, financial advisor etc) and make a formal complaint, this is always best done in writing. Each provider is obliged to have a written procedure to deal with complaints. There is a time frame in which your complaint needs to be dealt with, this should be outlined to you upon receipt of your initial complaint letter.

If the providers internal complaints procedures has been exhausted and you are still unhappy, you are entitled to make a complaint to the ombudsman. They will ask you to outline in writing the nature and substance of your complaint. They will ask the provider for their response to your complaint and may ask to view all their correspondence relating to you as a customer. Again time frames will be outlined as to when you can expect a response.

The Ombudsman can find in your favour, partially in your favor or your complaint may not be upheld. Financial recompense is an option within certain limits. The findings are binding on both parties but can be appealed to the high court by either side.

Naturally your complaint must be valid, for example if you made a risky investment, your advisor briefed you of the risks involved and you go on to lose some or all of your investment, that is not on its own grounds for a complaint. If you go to your bank and ask for a no risk place to put your funds to pay for a child's college education in three years and they end up advising you to invest in a closed, 8 year, geared property fund then your complaint is clearly looking pretty sound.

The complaint process is completely done in writing and there are no costs involved except the time taken to write your complaint. For further info on the FSO and contact details, please see http://www.financialombudsman.ie/

FS

ECB keeps interest rate steady at 1.25%

At the monthly meeting of the ECB yesterday, John Claude Trichet announced that they would leave the interest rate at 1.25%, its unlikely there will be another rate rise until later in the summer, possibly in July.

This is good news for embattled mortgage holders.

FS

Bord Gais to request price increase in the Autumn

Bord Gais chief Executive John Mullins has announced that it will be seeking a double digit price increase from the Commission for Energy Regulation in July, to take affect in October.

Gas: Increase of 10-20%
Electricity: Increase of around 10%

He blamed a spike in energy prices on international markets and pointed out that wholesale gas prices had doubled over the last year. The company was no longer in a position to absorb such significant price increases and would have to start passing them on to consumers.

If you are with BG, make sure to watch the market carefully over the next few months, if its a truly competitive market, the other players will either do their best to attract customers by resisting increasing their prices...or simply coalesce to increase prices across the board. Either way be prepared to migrate your supply when the dust settles we can see who is offering the best value in the market.

FS

Last Call for Scrappage

The Governments car scrappage deal ends soon, June 30th, if you have a ten year old car and are thinking of something new its time to make the move.

Your new car needs to be registered by June 30th to avail of the scheme, make sure to check (and double check) with your dealer that the car will be available by that date. Remember that if your planning on adding additional extras or are looking for a unusual colour, the car will need time to be built so you may be cutting it fine.

There are restrictions built into the scheme so visit http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/faqs-scrappage-scheme.html to familiarise yourself.

FS

Meteor remove roaming charges

Just in time for the summer holidays Meteor Mobile have announced that they are removing their roaming fees within the EU, this means you can make and receive calls for the same price as at home.

Visit http://www.meteor.ie/do_more/roaming/euro_rates/ for further information.

FS

Store Loyalty Cards

No matter how frugal you are you still need to eat, buy car insurance, put petrol in the car etc...why not get something back for it. Most large supermarkets have customer loyalty schemes, some are better than others but if used right you can get something back from the everyday things that we all need to buy.

I talk about the Tesco Clubcard scheme not out of any sort of endorsement for the brand or scheme but its simply the one I'm most familiar with and the most developed in the Irish Market.

When you do your weekly shop you receive one point for every euro spent. You might also get special vouchers of 80 or 100 points for purchasing particular items. Each point is worth a cent in vouchers that can be spent store wide. These vouchers are sent to you quarterly, or you can collect only once a year for signing up to their 'Christmas Club', this is where you can let your amassed points pay for your Christmas shopping in one fell swoop, not to shabby for simply carrying a card around with you.

That's the basics but you can really build them up quickly by using them in the Tesco Petrol stations attaching to some of their stores, you get one point for every two euro spent on fuel. This is a bit of a no brainer as their fuel is usually some of the most affordable.

Tesco also offer car insurance (underwritten by Royal and Sun Alliance) and you will receive money off for being a clubcard customer and you also get points on every euro you spend on your premium.

They also offer a simple credit card product (max credit limit €1500) but you will get points for using your card anywhere, and double points for using it in a Tesco store.

Its amazing how quickley the points build up. Pay attention to the extra points offers that they give you but remember its only good value if you intended to buy the product anyway.

FS