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Interest rate cut on market-leading Marcus savings account
The interest rate paid on the Marcus easy access savings account has been trimmed to 0.4%.
The Marcus Online Savings Account was relaunched to savers in February, after being closed to new savers last year in the wake of the pandemic.
However, it hasn’t taken long for the rate of interest on the account to be cut from its market-leading 0.5%. The cut initially applies to new customers, with existing savers set to see their rate fall in the next couple of weeks to the same level.
Marcus – the brand from Goldman Sachs – grabbed the headlines when it first launched back in 2018, as it paid a rate of 1.5%, securing top place in the best buy tables. This rate was gradually dropped down to 1.05% by last summer, when it put up the shutters to new savers. By this point it had already won around 500,000 customers.
Rates dropping
The last few years have not exactly been a golden time for the UK’s savers, but there’s no escaping the fact that things have got far worse for those looking for a return since the pandemic.
According to figures from financial information site Moneyfacts, the average easy access savings account paid 0.56% in March last year. But by March 2021, this had collapsed to 0.16%.
This is a trend replicated in other forms of savings accounts too. The average rate on a one-year fixed rate bond has dropped from 1.15% to 0.43% for example, while for longer term bonds the average rate has fallen to 0.65% from 1.37%.
What are my options?
While the Marcus account is no longer a market-leading account, there is still a handful of easy access accounts that pay 0.5%.
For example, the SuperSaver Savings Account from ICICI Bank pays 0.5% and can be opened with just £1. You will need to open a current account with ICICI Bank in order to qualify though.
Alternatively, there’s also the Virgin Money Instant Savings account, which can also be opened with £1 though again you need to have a Virgin current account.
Yorkshire Building Society pays 0.5% on its Annual Access Account, though as the name suggests this isn’t really a traditional easy access account as you can only make withdrawals once per anniversary year.
