In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

B of I grants students zero per cent rate

Bank of Ireland is to give students a zero per cent introductory rate on purchases on their credit cards for the first six months as part of its third-level student banking package.

The bank's student credit card has a credit limit of €400 for the first and second years and up to €850 for the third and subsequent years.

The bank is also giving new student customers a student travel card and 700 free text messages.

According to the bank, almost 90 per cent of students have a pay-as-you-go phone and spend an average of €41 per month on top-ups.

The student banking package offers a nine-month interest-free grant advance overdraft and a nine-month interest-free travel loan of up to €2,000.

Rabodirect reduces fund fee

Online savings and investment bank Rabodirect.ie is offering a reduced entry fee on its August fund of the month, the Merrill Lynch Investment Managers World Gold Fund.

The fund allows customers invest in worldwide gold equities, with the entry charge reduced from 0.75 per cent to 0.25 per cent for the month of August.

The minimum investment is €100 and the Merrill Lynch fund manager fee is 1.2 per cent per annum. Exit fees are 0.75 per cent of the investment.

AIB logins to exceed 30 million

AIB is growing its internet banking customer base by 21 per cent a year, with the number of logins expected to exceed 30 million this year, an increase of more than five million on last year.

The most common times to log in to the internet banking service is 9-10am. The most significant bills paid for are credit cards, where the average bill is just over €400.

Purchasing mobile top-ups is also popular, with use of the service up 30 per cent year-on-year, according to the bank.

Irish budget for bleak retirement

More than a third of Irish adults believe that if their financial situation does not change between now and retirement, they will need to watch what they spend during retirement, according to a survey by Seniors Money.

Over one in 10 people believe they will not have enough money to meet their basic living expenses, the property finance company said.

Alarm provider enters new market

House alarm provider Top Security has entered the home insurance market with a new service called Topinsurance.

The site allows consumers to shop around for home insurance and buy their policies online.

A discount of 35 per cent applies to all residences that are monitored by Top Security.

Over 70 per cent of homes broken into do not have an alarm that is connected to a monitoring service.