There have been quite a lot of changes happening in the best buy tables over the last couple of weeks – and mainly increases.
At long last the Cash ISA market has started to improve slightly, so is there light at the end of the tunnel?
RATES ARE CORRECT AS AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION (19/03/2021). All up-to-date rates can be found on our Best Buy tables.
The good news doesn't apply to the easy access best buys I'm afraid. Marcus by Goldman Sachs has already cut the rate it’s paying on its Online Saver to 0.40% AER after just a month back at the top. As Cynergy Bank also withdrew its Online Easy Access account, this leaves just the Yorkshire Building Society offering 0.50%, but watch out for the withdrawal restrictions as you can only make penalty free withdrawals on one day per year.
After several weeks of very little activity, this week Charter Savings Bank launched a couple of new accounts that sit just below the current market leader, Moneycorp bank. Charter Savings Bank’s new 120 Day Notice account matches the Moneycorp 90 Day account with a rate of 0.65% AER but with a slightly longer notice term and the 95 Day Notice Account from Charter Saving Bank is paying 0.61% AER.
One thing to remember about the Moneycorp account is that your money is protected by the Gibraltar Deposit Guarantee Scheme (GDGS), as this is where the bank is based, which covers deposits of up to €100,000
Cash ISAs
At last, there has been some activity in the cash ISA market – in particular Fixed Rate ISAs.
Nationwide has launched a new 18 month Fixed Rate ISA paying 0.75% AER which is quite substantially market leading for this term, although it is only available to existing customers. In addition to this market leading rate, Nationwide is encouraging its customers to switch old ISA accounts from other providers into this Fixed Rate ISA, by offering a £50 ISA transfer incentive for members moving at least £10,000 to the Society.
For new savers, the West Brom Building Society has launched new issues of its 1, 2 and 3 Year cash ISAs, which has elevated them to the top of the best buy tables in all three terms paying 0.55%, 0.70% and 0.75% AER respectively.
But Charter Savings Bank has also improved some of its offerings to sit in 2nd place in the 1 and 2-Year tables paying 0.50% AER and 0.62% AER and joins West Brom at the top of the 3-Year table, along with Shawbrook Bank and Close Brother, paying 0.75% AER. It is also in joint 4th position in the 5-Year Fixed Rate ISA table, paying 0.90%.
And last but not least, Skipton Building Society has improved its 5-Year Fixed Rate ISA and is now in 3rd place paying 1% AER.
In the meantime, UBL UK has remained in its top spot in the 5-Year table paying 1.15% AER
There’s been less meaningful activity in our Variable Rate Cash ISA table, with Al Rayan Bank still in the top spot paying 0.60% AER, followed by a raft of other providers paying 0.40% AER.
Raisin jumped to the top of the 1-Year Best Buy table this week by launching a 1 year bond in association with Cambridge & Counties Bank paying 0.60% AER. In case you are not familiar with this provider, it is normally only associated with Business and Charity accounts.
Raisin will be improving the welcome bonus on offer to new customers from Monday, which will further enhance the rate – but we can’t be sure which bonds will still be on offer – so check in next week.
We’ve not had anything to report about the 5-year Fixed Rate Bond table for quite some time, so it has been good to see a little action over the last couple of weeks. Hodge Bank bucked the trend by launching a market leading 5-year bond on 8th March paying 1.30% AER and the good news is that it is still sitting in the top spot.
And Charter Savings Bank has gone into the 2nd place with a new bond paying 1.26%, so both new bonds are breaking the 1.25% barrier that has been in place all year, barring a very brief interlude from SmartSave back in early February.
Charter has also gone into the top spot in the 2-Year table with its new bond paying 0.71% AER, pipping the rest of the table by just 0.01% - and replacing ZOPA which withdraw its bond paying 0.71% AER on Friday.
Let’s hope this activity continues. We will of course keep you up to date, but in the meantime, keep checking in on the Best Buy tables.
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