65% of easy access accounts pay less than 0.75%

Category: Savings
Author: Lieke Braadbaart
Date: 06/08/2018

Following the base rate rise last week, which saw the Bank of England increase it to 0.75%, savers may be hoping their bank passes on the full amount, giving them some more interest. However, with 65% of easy access accounts still paying less than base rate, they may want to think again.

Base rate turmoil

"As many providers continue to keep their cards close to their chests, savers may assume that they will benefit from last week's Bank of England base rate rise within the next few weeks by default, but as we have seen before, this is not guaranteed," Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts.co.uk, said. Indeed, the last base rate rise in November 2017 saw most providers take a month before passing on the 0.25% increase, with not all accounts seeing this improvement.

At the same time, most of the big brands did pass on the full rise when it came to the standard variable mortgage rates, giving homeowners a potential double whammy of no increased savings interest but a rise in mortgage repayments. Whether this pattern will repeat itself now remains to be seen, but savers may not want to depend on their current provider to get the best rate.

Easy access considerations

This is especially the case for those who have an easy access account with one of the bigger brands, as the high street's top rates are a lot less impressive than the overall top rates. This is illustrated in the tables below, which compare the current top-paying easy access deals to the high street's latest offering.