When customers open the Virgin Money M Plus Account, Virgin Money Club M Account and Virgin M Account, they automatically get a linked savings account.

And it is this linked savings account – which gives customers easy access to their cash – that will now offer a higher and market-leading rate of 1.71% AER (variable) on balances up to £25,000.

It has increased from 1.56% EAR (variable) and Virgin Money confirmed it applies to new and existing customers as of today.

For savings above £25,000, the rate comes in at 1% AER (variable).

While it is necessary to have a Virgin Money current account in order to get the top-paying linked saver, one of the big attractions is that you don’t need to close your existing everyday banking to get it.

Further, the current accounts also pay 2.02% AER variable on balances up to £1,000 and customers can earn cashback when spending via Virgin Money Cashback.

Virgin Money knocked American banking giant JPMorgan’s Chase off the top of the easy access best buy tables when it increased the rate to 1.56% last month.

But just this week, Al Rayan Bank’s Everyday Saver launched, offering an expected profit rate of 1.60% on balances of £5,000+.

The latest increase by Virgin Money means it now sits at the top of the easy access best buy tables again.

Hugh Chater, chief commercial officer at Virgin Money, said: “Following the Bank of England’s base rate increase in June, our new market-leading rate gives consumers more reasons to bank with Virgin Money and rewards our existing customers. This boost to our linked savings rates means we can offer both new and existing customers even better value for their savings, which is so important in these challenging times.”

However, there is a way for savers to earn 5% on their cash. Plus, for the latest best deals on cash savings accounts, see YourMoney.com’s The savings accounts paying the most interest which is updated monthly.