AIB offers an AER for regular savers of 7.1 % for amounts between 10 and 300 a month.

For that little bit extra, EBS and Anglo Irish Bank offer 7% interest on monthly deposits of 1,000, with Halifax offering the same rate up as far as 750.

Lucky lotto winners should look at ACCBank who are offering a fixed rate of 4.65% APR on amounts above 100,000

BEST CREDIT CARDS?

NIB offer their own fee-paying current account customers 8.8% APR credit card which represents the best value.

For a less exclusive flexible friend go to Halifax whose credit card purchase-rate is just 9.5% after 6 months at 0%. Their cash rate is also competitive at 11.2%

BEST BANK FOR YOUR MONEY?

Pay your salary or 1,500 a month into a Halifax current account and you can earn 10% interest on your balance up to 2,000. There are no transaction fees whatsoever and Halifax also has the best overdraft rate of 9.43%

BEST SAFE PLACE FOR YOUR SSIA LUMP SUM?

First Active's eSavings account offers the highest rates for SSIA savers with a rate of 5.22% on amounts up to 15,000 and 4.07% on amounts up to 1m.

BEST PERSONAL LOAN?

First Active offers the best loan rates for loans under 30,000 over five years of 6.8% APR. Go to Tesco for smaller cash boosts at 6.9%.

BEST STOCKBROKING CHARGES?

The cheapest way to play the stock exchange is with Sharewatch which charges 60 a year and 0.3% commission per online trade for buying and selling Irish shares. There's a minimum charge of 20. For international trading check out firsttrade. com whose fees start from $6.95

BEST MORTGAGE SWITCHER?

NIB leads the market for mortgage switchers with rates that go between 0.5 and 0.59 points above the ECB interest rate.

If you are looking for a mortgage at 60% of the value of your home, it can be a big saving over the life of the loan. NIB also doesn't penalise you if you decide to switch again.

Also worth checking out is Hibernian which will pay 1,200 towards your legal fees for switching, 150 towards your home insurance and a valuation fee up to 150. Keep a close eye on the small print though.