This article is from page 13 of the 2006-02-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
CLARE savers will bring a massive €80 million in cash into the county when the first of the SSAI accounts mature this year.
That’s according to findings from a Bank of Ireland study on how much people will have to spend and what they intend to do with it.
But people who have saved for the last five years could lose a huge chunk of their investment if they don’t remember to fill out the necessary form for the Revenue Commissioners.
Presenting the findings of the survey, conducted among 400 Bank Of Ireland customers, Ennis branch manager, Rose Hally, warned that the forms “must be filled out in the three months leading up to the end of the month in which the fifth anniversary of the account falls. Otherwise, Revenue will tax the entire balance at 23 per cent.”
The bank’s research also discovered that a massive 112,635 of a total of 120,000 SSAI holders came on board with the scheme at the last minute.
And equity-based SSAI accounts performed extremely well, the bank found.
The bank is launching its own new products for those with cash to invest when the SSAI’s mature.
These include a special bonus investment plan, in which the bank will continue on the 25 per cent payment on investments for six months.
Other products are a combined lump sum deposit and savings account and an alternative lump sum deposit option, offering a three to five year savings plan free of DIRT and a two year bond offering a 6 per cent fixed rate.
At the launch, Ms Hally said that the research showed that 74 per cent of customers had no previous regular savings prior to the scheme, “and 80 per cent intend to continue saving on a monthly basis when the scheme ends. It has had a very beneficial effect on saving habits.”