Archive for the 'rip off ireland' Category

Why is Registered Post so expensive?

Published May 30th, 2007 in open to interpretation, consumer pays, vague, an post, rip off ireland, irish government and uncategorized. 0 Comments

An Post, the Irish post office, charge EUR 5.00 to send a registered letter (signature on delivery, and web tracking number) anywhere on the Island of “Ireland”.


We would expect the charge to send a regsitered letter abroad to be higher, but infact it is cheaper. The charge for “Great Britain”, “Europe” and “Rest of World” is just EUR 4.93.


Looking past this current irregularity lets just look at the price within Ireland, EUR 5.00. It is quite expensive, when we consider a normal stamp is EUR 0.55, and that registered post is no faster. So why is the price so high? Well I content it is because An Post have a monopoly in this area. Various Government Acts and Statutory instruments specify the “Mode of service” of notices.


For example

RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTIONS REDRESS ACT 2002, Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006

These say a notice can be served by the writer delivering it to the receiver’s hand, or sometimes just at his address, or having it delivered by “Registered Post”


For the obvious temporal and economic reasons most notices are sent via the latter “Registered Post”. In keeping with the practice of vagueness that keeps the courtrooms whirring legislation does not specify what exactly is meant by “Registered Post”, so rather then use a Private Post Provider and risk it being judged an invalid service it is the practice to use only An Post.

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eStatements, yay or nay?

Published December 19th, 2006 in mastercard, visa, AIB, banking, rip off ireland and uncategorized. 3 Comments

AIB (Allied Irish Banks Plc) are now promoting “eStatements” for their credit card holders. An eStatement is a PDF that has the same layout and information as a traditional paper statement

Now, as the title of this article suggests (Yay or nay?) I’m not sure if I would prefer an eStatement instead of a traditional paper statement.

Lets consider who wins and loses here
The bank saves money on envelopes (1c), paper(5c), printing(1c), postage (41c for a ceadunas autosort bulk mailer) that is 48c per statement, or EUR 5.76 per annum.

Now, what about the cardholder, it is likely he will just print the PDF statements himself which will cost him on paper (5c), printing (2c for a home laser page)

So the bank saves money, and the cardholder loses money, eStatements appear to be a bad deal. But it gets worse. If a cardholder wishes to take his business to another credit card issuer, for example MBNA, he will need to furnish the new company with a sample of his recent credit card statements (to confirm to the new company that his account limit and debt is as disclosed). As we all know MBNA will need “originals only” of such statements. They cannot consider an eStatement printed on a cardholders personal computer to be original, so the cardholder must request what is now a “duplicate” statement from AIB which naturally attracts a fee. Even if a person has an unquestionaly large “professional” income and is thus not asked for past statements he will still be asked for a Giro if he needs the new company to perform a balance transfer. And the Giro is an interesting object, without it a cardholder can only pay his bill online, or by direct debit. He cannot pay it in a bank branch, or by post using a cheque. You cannot photocopy a Giro because the black ink is actually MICR ink, which is magnetic, although you could to splash out on a MICR catridge for your laser printer, but if you have that much money then you shouldn’t be reading this article, you should be in Monaco having a champagne breakfast on a balcony overlooking the harbour watching the many beautiful sports cars and yachts.

But to get back to the point these eStatements are a bad deal.
AIB make alot of money from charging for so called “duplicate statements”. I recall how in 2005 they had a practice of sending me multiple statements for different accounts in one envelope, my address was only printed on the outermost sheet to match the plastic window of the envelope. So the rest of the statements were useless for use as “proof of address” documentation within the meaning of the money laundering regulations, which apply when a person wishes to open a bank account.
But can we blame AIB? They are a business - viz a for-profit entity - and indeed they are a Public Limited Company - so their profitability is closely watched daily by stockholders and potential stockholders. The message is clear if you bank offers you a choice of doing things a new way first consider if you will benefit or not.
I will not be electing to receive eStatements, and I suspect the only cardholders who will are those who are well in the red, and don’t want to risk their significant others opening the heavy paper statement that will land on the hall floor every month.

Continue reading ‘eStatements, yay or nay?’

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Vehicle Registration Tax in Rip off Ireland

Published April 24th, 2006 in rip off ireland and uncategorized. 5 Comments

Like every country in the EU, we pay VAT on purchases. The rate varies within the union, in Ireland the standard rate is 21 percent. However, when it comes to motor cars the Irish Governement departs from the EU template and imposes an additional tax.


It’s called Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and is payable not at the time of purchase, as such a tax would contravene EU regulations, rather it payable on first registration of a car in Ireland.
So while it is possible to buy a car and not pay this tax it could not be driven on a public road or even resold, a sneaky tax indeed, both in existance and implementation.


There are no loopholes or tax avoidance methods. Even if you personally imported a new car from abroad once it arrives here you’ll have to register it, and in doing so pay the VRT. The VRT calculated as a percentage of the cars value. Not necessarily the price you paid but rather on a price supplied by the Revenue Commisioners called the Open Market Selling Price (OSMP). So even if you bought a second-hand Toyota Landcruiser from a abroad, lets say from friend in Japan who sold it to you for a token EUR 1, you’d still have to pay about EUR 2,000+ to the Revenue Commissioners.


You’ll remember I mentioned the VAT on all purchases, and then went onto to VRT, one might have considered these to be mutually exclusive, but actually VAT is applied to the post VRT OSMP, a double tax.


Now lets get back to tax avoidance. If the Revenue Commissioner are happy to dissect EU regulations and dance around the boundaries, then I would be happy to do the same to VRT. After soe research I found out that VRT on “large vans”, “lorries” and “tractors” is a flat EUR 50,
but I can’t imagine driving a fuel thirsty large van, even unladen, would cancel any saving, plus parking would be a nightmare. Fortunately there is another exception for the smaller vehicles “Small vans” “pick-ups” and some “four-wheel-drives” these are charged at “resonable” 13.3 percent of the OMSP. So I could import that Landcruiser from my friend in Japan after all. Continue reading ‘Vehicle Registration Tax in Rip off Ireland’

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How to avoid cheque stamp duty in Ireland

Published April 21st, 2006 in credit union, free cheques, irish banks, stamp duty, rip off ireland and uncategorized. 0 Comments

Would you like to save EUR 0.15?

If you are a full-time student or senior citizen you can enjoy free banking from AIB, and Bank of Ireland, this is advertised as referring only to bank fees, and not government taxes, so you must still pay stamp duty on plastic cards - currently ATM card EUR 10pa, Debit Card EUR 20pa, Credit Card EUR 40pa. However because the banks are trying to wish away costly transactions in favour of electronic online banking none of them refers to specifically to bank drafts. These negoitable instruments, within the meaning of the Cheques Act, 1959, attract a bank fee of about EUR 3.75 at the counter for personal customers, and EUR 0.00 for free banking customers, but they do carry a government stamp which costs the Bank EUR 0.15. In practice however, none of the Banks charges this to the free banking customer.


Personal bank customers who do not enjoy free banking will be delighted to hear that if one has a credit union account it is possible to withdraw funds at the counter in the form of a cheque payable to a specified party, the unions do not pass on the EUR 0.15 to the customer. Continue reading ‘How to avoid cheque stamp duty in Ireland’

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