Two new banks into the savings market in the last week or so seem to have had the desired effect in that after a short period of inactivity, there has been some positive movement across a number of the best buy tables.
RATES ARE CORRECT AS AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION (01/10/2021). All up-to-date rates can be found on our Best Buy tables.
Plenty of action to report in this best buy table this week.
Although Tandem Bank reduced the rate on its Green Instant Access Saver from a market leading 0.65% to 0.55%, there were a couple of new players to take up the top spot.
Coventry Building Society’s Four Access Saver is paying 0.65% AER but as the name suggests, only four penalty free withdrawals are allowed every 12 months. Any subsequent withdrawals will be subject to a penalty equivalent to 50 day’s interest.
Family Building Society is also paying 0.65% on its Premium Saver (4) – and while there are no restrictions to the number of withdrawals that can be made, there is a deadline on when you can deposit funds – unusual for an easy access account. The minimum deposit is £10,000 and any further deposits will need to be made by 5th November 2021.
Marcus by Goldman Sachs has made a welcome return to the best buy table by increasing the underlying rate on its Online Savings Account from 0.40% to 0.50% AER. In addition, there is a 12-month bonus of 0.10%, so the total rate, which applies to both new and existing customers, is 0.60%. If you are already an existing customer, you can log into your account and renew your 12-month bonus – worth doing regularly to extent this benefit.
The other two spots in the table are new editions too, although Cynergy Bank is also a return visitor as it has opened up the Online Easy Access Account (Issue 41) paying 0.60% AER to new customers as well as existing, once again.
And finally Charter Savings Bank has launched a new issue of its Easy Access account. Issue 23 is paying 0.60% AER on a minimum of £5,000.
Once again, the best notice rates on offer have increased – with the star of the week coming from a new provider, Recognise Bank. Its 95-Day Notice Account – Issue 1 is paying 1.10% AER, the highest rate we’ve seen for a year.
Recognise Bank pipped Secure Trust Bank who has increased the rate on its 90 Day Notice Account twice over the last couple of weeks but has only managed to secure second place in the table paying 1.07% AER.
Recognise Bank has also gone to the top of the 5-year Fixed Rate Bond table with a bond paying 2% AER – the first time we have seen an account paying this much for 18 months. At the beginning of this year, the best 5-year bond was paying just 1.25% AER!
There has also been some activity over the shorter term, although only the top 3-year is greater than it was two weeks ago. Secure Trust Bank raised the rates on its 1-year, 2-year and 3-year bonds and the latter has gone to the top of the table paying 1.80% AER, which is the highest rate since April last year. The 2-year is now joint market leading paying 1.75% AER while the 1-year has increased to 1.35% AER – so joint 3rd place.
The unusual thing about the Secure Trust Bank increases is that these are not new issues, the increases apply to both new and existing customers who opened one of these bonds since the issue was launched on 17th September.
Allica Bank is the other key provider to have pushed rates up a bit – although these are new issues too so only new customers will enjoy the new rates.
Allica Bank’s 12 Month Fixed-Term Personal Savings Account (Issue 21) is in the top spot paying 1.40% AER, since Atom Bank’s 1.50% bond was withdrawn.
Its 2-year bond is in joint top spot with Secure Trust Bank paying 1.75% AER.
Hopefully with Long Term Gilt yields rising once again, we’ll see some more increases coming over the next few weeks.
Once again there has been some activity in the Fixed Rate ISA tables, some good, some bad.
The other new provider to join the savings fray this week is Castle Trust Bank and it has made its mark in the Fixed Rate ISA tables. Its 1-year and 2-year ISAs have gone into the top spots paying 0.90% AER and 1.10% AER respectively. Unfortunately, we lost the top paying 2-year ISA which was paying 1.15% AER with Hodge Bank.
But we do have a new best 5-year rate, as UBL launched new issue paying 1.51% AER.
I’m afraid there is very little to report about the Variable Rate ISAs. Only the Marcus from Goldman Sachs ISA is noteworthy, increasing from 0.50% AER to 0.60% AER, for new and existing customers, same as the easy access non-ISA account.
Last but definitely not least are some more increases in the Sharia Fixed Term account table.
Al Rayan Bank and BLME have been knocked off their relatively new top spots with higher paying bonds from Gatehouse Bank over 1-year, 18 months and 5-years. These new bonds are paying 1.51%, 1,60% and 1.86% respectively and the 1-year bond is the best 12-month term account available across both the Sharia and Fixed Rate Bonds markets.
That’s it for this week – I hope to bring you more good news next time. Let’s hope the competition continues. In the meantime keep an eye on our best buy tables.
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