Expert warns thousands could be missing out on nearly €1,500 a year due to banking choice
Financial advisors have stressed the importance of shopping around due to Irish banks having low interest rates for depositors
Financial advisors say thousands of Irish people could be losing out on up to €1,450 per annum as a result of their banking choices.
It's been shown that Irish people are losing over €5billion a year due to low interest rates being paid by banks.
Irish banks currently sit among the lowest across Europe for passing on interest rate increases to depositors, RSVP Live reports.
Advisors are saying that a large number of people and companies are not looking into worthwhile alternatives for their savings, saying there are other options available.
Vincent Digby told The Irish Sun: "At Impartial Financial Advice Ltd for example, we have access to a range of AAA-rated Money Market Funds yielding approximately 2.9 per cent.
"For an SME with €500,000 on deposit the SME will earn an additional €14,500 over the course of a year – that’s a lot of money to leave on the table.
"And the same is true for a lot of charities, or personal savers, or retirees with self-administered pension funds who may have similar or much larger amounts languishing on deposits with minimal returns.
"Not considering other viable options is not prudent financial behaviour."
He stressed that even everyday savers could see an increase of €1,450 a year by simply looking around.
"Banks pretty much count on you doing nothing and leaving your money where it is. They understand human behaviour and decision-making.
"They know the science and they know of Status Quo Bias – which essentially says ‘Sure we’ll just stay with the devil we know,’ and while people may gripe and complain about the abysmally low rates, they probably won’t act and do anything about it.
"I am urging people to at the very least inform themselves, and also to act. They owe it to themselves," he concluded.
