first direct savings account offers 3.5% interest plus £175 to switch | Personal Finance | Finance
Savers who are looking for an attractive interest rate might be interested in first direct’s Regular Saver which offers 3.5 percent on maximum savings of £300 a month. Customers can put away between £25 and £300 for a fixed 12 month term and if they save the maximum they will earn approximately £68.25 in interest.
Savers must not have opened an HSBC current account on or after January 1, 2019.
As long as this criteria is met, custoners should get their money within 28 days.
Kevin Mountford, savings expert and co-founder of Raisin UK said: “There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ account that is suitable for everyone throughout their entire child and adulthood.
“It is really important to shop around and make your money work harder for you by looking at what accounts suit your needs and support your financial goals.”
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Although inflation eased slightly in September consumers ‘can’t relax yet’.
UK inflation dropped slightly to 9.9 percent in August down from 10.1 percent in July, according to the latest Consumer Price Index figures.
Alice Haine, Personal Finance Analyst at Bestinvest, the DIY investment platform and coaching service, said it’s not time to relax yet.
She added: “Consumers may now be able to find easy-access accounts with rates as high as 1.85 percent and fixed-interest rates of 3.75 percent – the highest level in more than a decade thanks to the BoE’s spate of interest rate rises – but this is still no match inflation of almost 10 percent.”
Ms Haine continued: “The only consolation is that the BoE is widely expected to raise the base rate again next week, a move that should see savings rates edge up further.
“The key for savers looking to mitigate the damaging effect of inflation is to shop around for the best deals on the market.”
Simon Webb at LiveMore, the over 50s mortgage lender, said: “It is inevitable that the Bank of England will raise base rate next week, the question is by how much?
“The industry guess work is anywhere between 0.5 and 0.75 percent.”
