Current Accounts

Alliance & Leicester is increasing the credit interest rate on its award winning current account, Premier Direct, to 6.5% AER up from 6.1% AER with immediate effect.

Commenting on news that HSBC is to operate a branch exclusively for its ‘Premier’ customers, Kevin Mountford, head of savings and current accounts at moneysupermarket.com, said:

Andrew Hagger, head of news and press at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments: “Over the last couple of years we’ve seen the emergence of more current accounts offering high credit interest rates, some of which are on a par with the top paying savings accounts.

Nick White, Director of Financial Services at price comparison and switching website uSwitch.com comments on Citibank’s latest move to automatically upgrade their Sterling current account customers to a Citibank Plus £10 a month packaged account:

Halifax's new Ultimate Reward Current Account, believed to be the best value packaged current account from a major High Street bank, launches on Monday 19th February.

Nearly one in three (31%) of singletons pledge to remain financially independent in their next relationship and have no plans to sacrifice their autonomy by opening a joint account, according to research by Alliance & Leicester Current Accounts.

A new Alliance & Leicester Premier ISA account paying 7.00% pa gross/AER is being launched for customers opening an Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account and will be available for a limited period only.

On average, internet only current accounts pay 2.27% per annum less than the most competitive current account deals on the high street, according to uSwitch.com.

With news from MoneyExpert.com that more than 1.38 million customers plan to switch their current accounts over the next six months, people switching to Abbey can now benefit from a market leading 6.30 per cent AER.

More than 1.38 million customers plan to ditch their bank over the next six months as current account switching takes off, new MoneyExpert.com research shows.

Andrew Hagger, Head of News and Press at moneyfacts.co.uk, looks at the incentives being offered to customers to switch current accounts.

Customers of the Big 4 High Street banks now have two more reasons to switch their current account to Halifax.

HSBC customers are set to benefit from the launch of the bank’s new 10 per cent Regular Saver, available to Bank Account Plus, Premier and Passport customers from Monday 5 February. The bank is also offering six per cent credit interest on balances up to £2,500 fixed for 12 months to new Bank Account Plus customers opening an account before 1 April, 2007.

People are notorious for seldomly switching their current accounts. Research from moneysupermarket.com shows nearly two in five people (39 per cent) have never changed their current account despite providers hitting the market regularly with appealing credit balance and overdraft interest rates – there are currently 14 offering rates above three per cent, of which six offer rates over five per cent. In fact only eight per cent of current account holders switched in the last year, testament that this lure is largely unsuccessful.

Nick White, Director of Personal Finance at Switch.com, comments on Abbey’s increase to their current account rate from 6% AER to 6.3% AER for new customers from the 1st February 2007 – the move comes just one month after their increase to preferred overdraft rates from 9.9% EAR to 10.9% EAR for both new and existing customers: