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Ditching big banks can get you 20% more interest on your savings
Out of 15 well-known brands, seven fail to pay more than the Bank of England base rate of 0.10% on their easy access accounts, according to analysis by Moneyfacts.
HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group pay just 0.02% on average across their range – that’s just £2 of interest a year on £10,000 of savings.
NatWest Group offers 0.03%, Santander 0.04%, TSB 0.05%, Barclays Bank 0.06% and The Co-operative Bank group 0.06%.
Despite the lacklustre rates, savers are still stashing their cash away in easy access accounts, perhaps for peace of mind, with £11.6bn in deposits made in April – or £51bn so far this year – according to the Bank of England.
They could earn significantly more by switching away from high-street banks, with building societies offering some comparatively attractive deals.
Yorkshire Building Society pays 0.30% on average, Principality Building Society pays 0.25%, Leeds Building Society pays 0.24% and Coventry Building Society pays 0.23%.
But the best easy access rates are still from the challenger banks.
Cynergy Bank, Atom Bank, ICICI Bank UK and Charter Savings Bank all pay 0.50% on their easy access products, which is £50 of interest on a £10,000 deposit.