More good news for savers

Michelle Slade, analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments: "Amongst the negative stories that have come out in recent months, there is one aspect of personal finance which continues to flourish.

"Savers are seeing rates as much as 1.30% higher than they were in December 2006, which was the last time base rate was at the same level.

"Rates on standard no notice accounts, the most popular type of account, have not been over 6% since April 2001 and then base rate was 5.50%.

"People with existing savings or those starting to save, including first time buyers saving their deposit, find themselves in a strong position as the banks and building societies continue to fight to tempt savers through their doors. Since 1 May, Moneyfacts has received 94 changes for increased rates on savings products, even though the previous base rate decision was a 0.25% cut.

"This is an unprecedented amount of increases following a base rate cut and is not something we have seen before.

"In the last year we have seen the number of variable accounts on offer increase from 960 to 1,067 and the number of fixed rate accounts increase from 394 to 426. Institutions are adding a wider variety of accounts to their range in order to ensure they have an account to suit every saver's needs, rather than having the saver go to its competitor.

"Although not everyone is in a position to save as financial pressures across the board increase, those that can need to shop around for the best deal and not let their savings get eroded by inflation in an account paying a low rate.

"Institutions don't even advise their own customers that they can get better deals with them and they certainly are not going to advise customers they can get higher rates elsewhere. So shop around and make the most of your money."