New savings account from Halifax
Halifax is to launch a savings account today which offers a huge 12%. Those wanting to take advantage need to be quick as the Regular Saver account is available for a 6-week period.
The account offers a relatively high maximum monthly deposit of £500 and promises better returns than some of the best-rated bond fund managers available.
Under the terms of the account, you cannot touch your savings for one year. The initial rate on the account is 10% and those who are diligent with their savings and manage to set aside £5,000, the rate then rises to 12%.
However, those dipping into the account during the first year means that the rate will fall to the interest offered on the Halifax Web Saver account, which pays between 4.36% and 4.45%.
At the end of the 12-month period, cash and the interest earned on it will be transferred to another Halifax account chosen from a list of six, including the Web Saver, Guaranteed Saver, Saver Reward and Instant Saver. Therefore, after the 12-months, customers need to remember to search for a better deal.
A recent report from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) revealed that Britons are taking advantage of high savings rate as the amount of money deposited into savings accounts more than doubled last month to reach record levels.
Foreign banks have recently been entering the British market to tempt savers with high interest rates. Icelandic-owned Kaupthing Edge has an instant-access savings account which pays 6.5% while Indian-owned ICICI’s HiSave account pays 6.41%.
However, a recent report by price comparison site, moneysupermarket.com, urged current account savers to check the small print.
For instance, Alliance & Leicester’s Premier Regular Saver offers a huge 12% but only in conjunction with its current account that pays 1.5%. In comparison, the bank’s best current account pays 8.5%.
Kevin Mountford of moneysupermarket.com said with banks and building societies increasingly cross-selling products to boost their margins, there are now even more reasons to check the small print.
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