Author: Practicenet

BANKS are back to their old trick of increasing the charges for running a current account. Both Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank have angered customers by announcing changes that will mean more people will get caught paying fees. Remember, switching banks is actually a relatively easy process due to The Central Bank’s Switching Code. This […]

An Post is advancing plans for a nationwide network of self-service parcel locker stations to enable customers more conveniently access online deliveries and make returns. It will put it in competition with existing providers, including Parcel Motel, the service that is part of Nightline. That group was acquired by UPS in 2017. An Post said […]

There are 50,500 more people at work as unemployment plummeted by over 10pc in the last year. The numbers employed rose by just over 2pc or 50,500 people. This pushed the total number of people at work to 2.28 million. The numbers unemployed fell by 15,200 or 10.5pc to 128,800 last year, according to the […]

A new consumer monitor shows that 45% of all the properties sold last year were bought with cash or savings. The latest quarterly Consumer Market Monitor, from the Marketing Institute of Ireland and UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, shows that 55,000 homes were purchased in 2018, an increase of 8% on 2017. The monitor […]

Approximately 45pc of all properties sold in 2018 were paid for with cash or savings. This is similar to the level of cash purchases made during the recession years of 2009-2013, when mortgage approvals were at an all-time low. Overall and growth in the property market remained “sluggish” in 2018, despite a high demand for […]

Ireland is spending “hundreds of millions of euros” on preparing for a no-deal Brexit, which would be a “crazy outcome” of three years of EU-UK negotiations, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said. “We are spending hundreds of millions of euros in Ireland preparing for a no-deal Brexit to try to protect Irish citizens in those circumstances,” […]

Weekend newspaper supplements often quiz somebody reasonably well known about their finances. The answers are often the same: ‘money is not my main motivation, my priorities are my family, friends and employees’ and other assorted fibs. One question that always receives the same answer is about property versus shares. People always say that they much […]

A good friend of mine was caught out by a scam before Christmas. He received a call on his home phone from an individual who claimed to be from Mastercard. The individual told him that a fraudster had got his hands on his debit card and used it to steal money from his account. My […]

Not that long ago a friend sent me a yellowing magazine story about famous Fleet Street editors, with a Post-it note attached saying: “Those were the days.” I saw what she meant as soon as I read about the late Charles Wintour, a former London Evening Standard editor with a flair for the withering memo. […]

POLICY makers across developed economies have struggled to lift wages since the great crash – a big factor in the slow return of inflation. While it suits many employers, it’s seen as one reason overall growth remains dangerously sluggish. Spain’s decision to hike its minimum wage by 22pc, even though unemployment remains high, signals a […]