The Alliance and Leicester is passing on the Bank of England base rate cut to its customers by reducing the interest rate on most of the savings accounts it offers by the full 0.25 percent.
The changes by the Alliance and Leicester will come into effect on 2 May, with only a small number of accounts not having their interest rates cut. These will include the Premium Regular Saver, eSaver and their ISA products Premier ISA and Premier ISA 2.
One other Alliance and Leicester savings account, the Direct Saver, will have an interest rate cut of 0.23 percent rather than the full 0.25. Other financial institutions are expected to follow suit, looking at ways to improve their profitability and cash flow in these difficult times.
The Nationwide Building Society has just launched a new range of investment bonds, with interest rates of up to 6.8 percent per year.
There are a couple of e-bonds, sold online only and only available to those who have, or are taking out, a Nationwide Building Society FlexAccount. A loyalty bond is also in the set of newly launched products, this on offer to customers of at least three years standing.
The savings director of the Nationwide Building Society felt that the rates being offered on these investment bonds were some of the best on the market and was expecting demand to be high.
The Abbey National has just issued a new range of investment bonds, catering for children, the over fiftys and those seeking a safe, fixed rate home for their money.
The Abbey National childrens savings bond is valid for those under 18 and offers a guaranteed 5.3 percent interest rate gross per annum, with an investment period of four years. Meanwhile, at the other end of the age scale, the over 50s will pay interest either annually or monthly to best suit investor circumstances, at a rate of 5.3 percent annual or 5.18 percent monthly.
Finally, the fixed rate bond from the Abbey National is available as a one, two or three year product. Assuming an investment amount of less than GBP50,000 the gross returns are 5.7, 5.2 and 5.1 percent respectively. For the one year bond an investment of GBP50,000 or more would provide a 6 percent return.
