This highlights the importance of sticking to a budget.
Summer has finally arrived. This means one thing for lots of Irish people – getting the hell out of here.
Switcher.ie have completed a survey that includes a number of findings with regards to Irish people’s holiday habits.
They revealed that 68% of Irish people will take at least one holiday this year, with Europe’s beaches being the main attraction.
But their findings have shown that sunburn isn’t the only thing that holiday goers will have to worry about, with 33% set to see their holiday spending go out of control, and a quarter likely to come home to debt.
It appears that Irish people’s main sources of expenditure come in the form of alcohol, food and shopping.
Despite this, 14% admit to never setting a holiday budget before going away, while almost half (48%) claim that they do set a budget but they aren’t too strict on keeping it.
As a result, 33% of people say that they always overspend while on holidays, and 45% saying that they sometimes do.
Not budgeting is the main cause of Irish holiday goers coming home in financial difficulty, but this isn’t the only issue that faces them.
There is some apparent confusion around the fees that come with using ATM cards abroad. The majority of people don’t know the charges for the likes of ATM withdrawals, using a credit card to withdraw cash, and paying by card in shops or restaurants abroad.
This could potentially lead to some unwanted charges – especially for the 30% of Irish consumers who are travelling outside of the EU. When you withdraw cash from a non-Eurozone country, you’ll be charged a percentage of the transaction value each time, and will probably have to pay a foreign exchange too. You’ll also face similar charges for using your card to make payments in general.
Here’s what the additional charges are when you withdraw money from an ATM in non-Eurozone countries:
AIB – 2.5% of euro value + Commission charge of 1%
Bank of Ireland – 3.5% of transaction
KBC – 3.5% of transaction
Permanent tsb – 3.5 of transaction
Ulster Bank – 2% of transaction + Exchange rate charge of 1.5%
So if you trust yourself bringing cash over on your holidays, you’ll end up skipping these annoying charges. And if you make a budget, try and stick with it.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
