Savings Accounts

Nearly 10,000 people will find it easier to pay for Christmas this year because they opened a Christmas Saver Account with Skipton Building Society.

There is growing criticism of saving accounts that erode headline grabbing rates with ‘so-called’ restrictive terms and conditions.

Six of the top ten easy access savings accounts carry punitive measures for savers who want to withdraw any of their cash, meaning savers need to carefully check the underlying terms and conditions before they deposit their hard-earned cash.

Bradford & Bingley has launched the My Time Postal Account, an easy access postal account that offers a market-leading rate of 6.30% gross p.a/AER.

Alliance & Leicester has launched eSaver, a new highly competitiveinternet only savings account paying 6.50% AER (6.31% gross).

Scarborough Building Society is encouraging people to plan early for Christmas 2008, and avoid borrowing to pay for it.

Halifax has announced that it is reducing its core savings rates by up to 0.25%. Rachel Thrussell Head of Savings at Moneyfacts.co.uk the leading independent financial comparison site comments: “Whilst we have seen the launch of some competitively priced savings products this week, Halifax has bucked the trend by cutting rates on its core range.

Commenting on the launch of a range of new savings accounts this week, Kevin Mountford, head of savings at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said: “It has been a bumper week for savers, who now have two new market leading savings accounts to choose from –

Coventry Building Society launches Online Saver, a market leading, easy access, savings account that’s opened and operated online.

A new internet savings account from Skipton Building Society gives savers access to the mutual’s great interest rates at any time, day or night.

Chelsea Building Society has announced the launch of a new ClicknSave Fixed Rate Option on Saturday 10 November 2007.

The number of young people who have opened a savings account has doubled over the past six months, according to new research from Birmingham Midshires’ Saving Britain campaign.

AA Savings is firmly in the best buy league with launch of a brand new Telephone Access Account, matching its recently-launched Internet Access Account.

For nearly a year now, Skipton Building Society’s Christmas Saver account has been helping Britons prepare for the cost of the festive season.

Rachel Thrussell, Head of Savings at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments: “Unusually the last two months has seen a boom in the variable rate savings market, with rates rising and new accounts are being launched to top the charts.