1) A Vacation

We’re all in need of a vacation once in a while but going into debt for a plane ticket or hotel stay is a bad idea all around. Accumulating debt to take a trip somewhere sunny might be exactly what you’d like to do right now but sit down and look at your finances before you get too excited about the trip. You don’t really need to go – of course, it would be nice but make sure you have the cash first. It’s that simple.

2) Buying Clothing

Yes, that was a beautiful dress and yes it fit you perfectly. Just because you would look great in it doesn’t mean you need to buy it. When you look at the credit card bill a month from now you’ll be thinking another story altogether. And it’s not just expensive fashion items… if you pick up a whole bunch of small items you’ll be breaking the bank very quickly. That dress wont feel like such a great idea if you can’t pay rent in a few months. Buy the dress but make sure you have the money for it.

3) Pay Off Other Debt

The only time this one might work is if you use a small loan to pay off other debts that are at higher interest rates – something like an IVA. Make sure you know what you’re doing though because it could end up costing you. Moving money around isn’t going to pay down your debt – you have to get serious and start paying it off.

4) Getting Gifts for Others

Some people can’t help themselves… they just love giving gifts. That is fine but when it’s going to put you in the poorhouse it’s probably time to start thinking about holding off. This is one that hits people really hard around Christmas. Families will buy all kinds of presents during the holidays and when they wake up to this spending in the new year things aren’t looking so great. Spend what you have!

5) Furnishing Your Home

It would be nice to get a new couch. That one you have is falling apart but then where does it end? If you can’t afford a new couch then don’t buy one. Going into debt for furniture doesn’t make any sense – just like clothing – these things are not necessary for your day-to-day life. It’s nice to nice things but it’s not worth it to go into debt for it.

I guess you see a pattern arising: don’t buy it unless you have the money. Otherwise you’ll be need of debt help. If it’s something that will hold it’s value or will even increase in value (like a home) then go for it but don’t go into debt for a coffee table!

There is no question that the Irish economy changed when the euro was introduced. But whether converting to the euro was what caused those changes is a matter of speculation. Because Ireland is an island, and because it is located rather far away from other EU countries, some economists thought that the introduction of the euro would cause an increase in exports. The reasoning was that countries on the continent were used to trading with one another before the advent of the euro, and that Ireland would gain attention by being the new trading partner on the block.

This isn’t to say that the continent didn’t trade with Ireland before the euro, just that it became significantly easier with a common currency.

However, that’s not how it went down.

Ireland’s property price bubble began shortly before the introduction of the euro. After 2003, capital inflows rose more than 50% of the GDP – a phenomenal rate. Much of this capital was absorbed by locally controlled Irish banks.

The collapse in construction and real estate and the fall of property prices, along with the troubles of the banking system worldwide harmed employment and weakened the economy as the world headed into recession in 2008. But studies of other small economies in the periphery of Europe have found that the euro was neither necessary nor sufficient for the economic trouble in Ireland. In other words, the euro was along for the ride, but it wasn’t the euro’s fault that the economy rose rapidly then fell.

What the euro did was trigger low interest rates that got the property bubble underway, and eased the financing of the property bubble. This weakened some of the traditional restraints on emerging imbalances: it was uncharted territory for the Irish economy. The other economies in Europe and its surrounding regions that also suffered major economic setbacks, specifically Iceland and Latvia, were not members of the EU. So the introduction of the euro is not likely to be to blame for the economic downturn.

Another example, the fortunes of Portugal, another small country on the periphery of Europe and an EU member, show that a massive price bubble was not inevitable with the adoption of the euro.

There is no denying that after the introduction of the euro in 2002 there was a wave of optimism in EU countries based on the new currency system. But though the euro can be blamed as a cause of low interest rates that fueled the property boom, the currency itself does not appear to have changed the Irish economy any more than it would have changed had it not adopted the euro.

Credit card fraud is a worldwide problem, and the poor economy has made it even more of a problem. It is vital that you protect yourself from credit card fraud, and there are a number of steps you can take to do so.

First and foremost, only keep the best credit cards. If you have two or more credit cards that are costing you too much in interest – close them down!

So, assuming you’ve got rid of your excess credit cards, what do you do about the ones you still carry around? Several things. For one, if it’s just a quick trip to the market for milk, leave your credit card at home. That way you don’t risk dropping it, or losing it. If you’re like most people, though, carrying your credit cards is a way of avoiding having to carry around large sums of cash, and that is a good thing. If someone takes several hundred euros cash from you, you really have no recourse. But if someone takes several hundred euros in the form of a credit card, your losses are limited.

Here are a few ways to avoid credit card fraud.

• If anyone calls you or e-mails you saying they are your bank and they need your credit card details for some reason that might sound perfectly legitimate, do not provide any of that information. Instead, call or e-mail your bank directly and ask if they contacted you wanting account details. Most will never call you asking for such information, so that you know that an e-mail or call asking for your credit card details is deceptive and dangerous.
• Do you ever play those games online where you have a formula for creating your “pirate name,” or your “stripper name”? Often they’ll say you use your mother’s maiden name for part of it, and then the name of your street for part of it, and maybe your pet’s name for part of it. It sounds innocent enough, except that these are the exact details you use online or over the phone to establish your identity, and if those details get into the hands of someone stealing your identity, they can do a lot more damage.
• Report any suspected credit card fraud immediately. If you report it within 24 hours, you usually won’t be held responsible for anything charged on the cards. But if you wait you may be out a certain amount, say €50, which isn’t that much when someone’s rung up thousands of euros worth of charges, but it’s still €50 that you’d like to keep if you can.

Choosing a credit card in Ireland, like anywhere else, involves taking into account what you want the credit card for and what kind of credit you have. Obviously, if you have good or excellent credit, you’ll have more choices and better interest rates. But with so many cards out there to choose from it can be confusing to know where to begin. Three types of credit cards you can choose from are “rewards” cards, so-called 0% cards, and balance transfer credit cards.

Rewards cards allow you to earn “points” or credits toward some goal when you use your credit card to make purchases. Maybe you’ll get discounts, or points to use toward purchases. Sometimes the “reward” is cash back.

0% credit cards vary. There are the 0% balance transfer cards that let you transfer a debt from another card. There are 0% cards that allows you to make purchases on which you won’t pay any interest until the introductory rate is over. That period may be a couple of months or a whole year.

Balance transfer cards may or may not have a 0% introductory “teaser” rate. Often they do have a low introductory rate for a set period from the time you open your card. It is important to know that the clock on the introductory rate begins when you open your account, not when you transfer your balances. If you wait to transfer balances, you’ll have a much shorter period in which you’ll benefit from the low rate.

Some people simply opt for the card with the lowest interest rate they can get. “No annual fee” cards are very common now, and you shouldn’t have to trade off a low interest rate at the expense of a high annual fee. There are plenty of no annual fee cards that carry relatively low interest rates. Often, in the long term, choosing the card with the lowest interest rate – particularly if there is no annual fee – is the best strategy. Assuming you make payments on time and don’t incur fees for going over your credit limit or for other reasons, you should be able to keep that relatively low interest rate. And if they try to raise it on you for no good reason, you can probably shop around and find another card that will offer you a low interest rate. Low interest rate cards may not have the cachet that points or rewards cards do, but when it comes to keeping credit card expenses under control, it’s almost always the best way to go.

Ireland is the only country that has a credit card stamp duty. A stamp duty is a tax the government imposes on certain legal documents. The word “stamp” is a holdover from the days when an actual physical stamp was attached to a document to prove that the duty had been paid. The stamp duty on Irish credit cards and charge cards is for €30 per year per account. Charge cards are like credit cards except there is no interest because you pay it off at the end of the month.

It is important to note that multiple cards attached to one account, such as an account where both spouses have a copy of the credit card, only one stamp duty is imposed. If you transfer a credit card account from one issuer to another, you can avoid paying the stamp duty again as long as you close the old account and have documentation from the account you’re closing saying so.

In 2007, Ireland had more than 2.3 million credit cards in circulation, more than double what it was in 1997. Even if only a quarter of those were attached to unique accounts, it would add up to over €20 million in credit card stamp duty income per year.

There is also a stamp duty levied on debit laser cards and ATM cards. For these cards, the tax is €10 on every ATM card or debit laser card, or €20 annually on every combined Laser/ATM card.However, with debit laser cards and ATM cards the duty is affixed on every card rather than every account.

While you may balk at having to prove that you’ve already paid the credit card stamp duty once in a year if you’ve switched cards, or if you think that it’s too much trouble to bother with, consider what would happen if 100,000 Irish citizens didn’t bother. The Irish government would get an extra €30 million in a year for no good reason.

Same thing with the duties on ATM and debit laser cards. If nobody bothered disputing the stamp duty if they switched cards after having paid the tax for the year, the government would rake in an extra €10 million. There’s no sense in trying to get out of paying the stamp duty, but at the same time there’s no reason for you to pay it twice in a year if you don’t have to.