Raisin.ie Has Launched with Some Market Leading Rates

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Irish Times article here.

Raisin is a marketplace for deposits that facilities the placing of deposits with other European banks.

Raisin.com previously tried to launch in Ireland but fell foul of CBI rules.

Raisin now has a banking license so it can offer services, via passporting, into Ireland.

Irish Times says that rates on offer are expected to be between 0.3 per cent and 1.35 per cent AER.

No mention of the banks that will offer products on Raisin.ie, but they will be probably be similar to those offered via Raisin.com.
 
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The Raisin.ie homepage still displays "coming soon" but if you click around you the various links you can eventually find details.

As these details, may not be the final details, I will wait until they are confirmed before updating the best buys.

J&T offer the best rates.

Details here.
- 3 banks offered.
--> 1. Banca Farmafactoring. Italian bank but offered via their Spanish subsidiary. Rates here. 0.50% AER for a 1 year term deposit.
--> 2. Euram Bank. Austrian bank. Awful rates here. 0.12% AER for a 1 year term deposit.
--> 3. J&T Banka. Check Republic bank. Rates here. 0.65% AER for a 1 year 6 months term deposit. Rates up to 1.17% AER.

One cannot sign up to these products just yet.

Irish Times report said that rates would be up to 1.35% AER. I wonder if a bank pulled out or if the details are yet to go on their website.
 
Disappointing that the Irish portal offers fewer and lower rates than those through the main Raisin portal. I don't see much to interest me above, although I suppose they're marginally better than some of today's Best Buys.

Was particularly galling a few years back to see AIB offering better rates on Raisin than domestically, and not be able to access them.
 
J&T do have some market leading term deposit rates relative to the Irish banks.

It is disappointing that the marketplace seems to limited to 3 banks (A small number of Irish people still have access to all the offers on the main Raisin portal who registered for Raisin after they launched and before the CBI told Raisin that they cannot accept further Irish customers).
 
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It is a fantastic idea and on the way to making banking more open and breaking down the restrictions in place by borders. There is a similar German firm Deposit Solutions offering similar products.
 
Raisin seems to be using its Ireland-only portal to offer products dramatically inferior to what it offers in other European markets. Seems to have degenerated into yet another suboptimal treatment of Irish consumers.
 
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They seem to be offering a welcome bonus of up to €100 which raises the effective interest rates slightly. Unclear if this is or should be subject to DIRT.
 
There is also the time cost of the more complicated tax treatment, needing to present residence certificates (at the appropriate time) from Revenue to avoid withholding tax at the foreign bank, and then manually return the DIRT here. See https://www.raisin.ie/tax/

Hopefully if you mess up the admin you can offset any foreign withholding tax deducted against your DIRT liability?

Anyway, unless the rates increase I don't see Raisin being very successful here, given the admin involved for the return.
 
Raisin seems to be using its Ireland-only portal to offer products dramatically inferior to what it offers in other European markets. Seems to have degenerated into yet another Irish consumer ripoff.

The rates that Raisin Bank are offering via Raisin.ie are the exact same as Raisin.com for the 3 banks offered.

The limitations on the number of banks is probably simply the fact that the other banks choose not to be listed on Raisin.ie due to the lack of a need for more deposits.

Other regional variants of Raisin also have less products that the main Raisin.com portal.
 
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They seem to be offering a welcome bonus of up to €100 which raises the effective interest rates slightly. Unclear if this is or should be subject to DIRT.

DIRT / foreign deposit interest tax is not deduced at source from the bonus.

KBC offer bonuses to students which are not subject to DIRT.
 
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There is also the time cost of the more complicated tax treatment, needing to present residence certificates (at the appropriate time) from Revenue to avoid withholding tax at the foreign bank, and then manually return the DIRT here. See https://www.raisin.ie/tax/

Hopefully if you mess up the admin you can offset any foreign withholding tax deducted against your DIRT liability?

The admin is heavy if you do not already file a tax return. However, if you already file a tax return it does not add a lot of work.

In some cases, you need to ask the Revenue for a certificate of residency. This needs to be done close but before the maturity of the term deposit. Exception: Banca Farmafactoring due to zero tax in Spain for deposit interest. This can be requested via My Account on the Revenue website.

You need to declare the gross deposit interest and any withholding tax already paid, you then need to pay Revenue the difference between DIRT and any withholding tax already paid.
 
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Raisin Bank say that there will be at least 3 banks joining the platform over the next few months.

“There are currently 26 products available on Raisin.ie [and] given the number of banks that are interested in the market, we see this number doubling in the following months with at least three more banks slated to join the platform in the short term.

Good news to hear that it will be expanding the number of deposit products on offer.
 
DIRT / foreign deposit interest tax is not deduced at source from the bonus.

KBC offer bonuses to students which are not subject to DIRT.
The Raisin bonus is dependent on depositing funds (and the amount of bonus depends on the amount of deposit) so my understanding is it should be subject to DIRT.

The KBC bonus is only dependent on opening and using an account, not on depositing funds.
 
Interesting perspective.

Through the years, multiple banks have offered bonuses, with various terms attached, and none have been subject to DIRT.

On one token, the bonus is not deposit interest in the traditional meaning of deposit interest linked to a rate. On the other token, as you say, it is linked to the amount you deposit.
 
A 4th bank has joined the Raisin.ie platform. Alior Bank, a Polish bank, has joined.

The Alior rates are almost as rubbish as AIB and BoI.

One advantage is you can close the term deposit early if required.
 
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Hey guys! I am James from Raisin. Saw this thread and thought i should introduce myself. Happy to answer any questions you may have. FYI The rates with Banca Farmafactoring have increased to 0.70% AER on 1 year deposits - take a look ;)
 
Hey James,

Welcome to Ask About Money. I have updated the best buys with the new Banca Farmafactoring rates.

Will more banks be joining the Raisin.ie platform over the coming months?
 
Hi CiaranT

Thanks for the welcome! There are currently 3 additional banks planned to go live by Januray 1st.
I'll be sure to post updates on this thread (unless you feel a new thread would be more appropriate?).
 
That's great that 3 additional banks will likely join shortly.

Posting on this thread for now is probably best.
 
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