The personal finance arm of Saga Insurance has just brought out a new interest rate guarantee for their online savings account.
The online savings account is now guaranteed to offer an interest rate that will always be with a quarter of a percent of the top 5 variable rate accounts average. Saga Insurance personal finance division has calculated that the average rate as it stands is 6.25 percent gross, working out to 6.43 percent AER.
New customers can sign up to the new savings account online at the Saga Insurance website, whilst existing online savings account customers will see their interest rates changed automatically. The account only needs a deposit of one pound to open and as such offers an extremely attractive rate.
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 Abbey National has found that over sixty percent of UK holidaymakers have used savings to finance a holiday this year, while others are using the money to pay for a holiday before it even gets to the savings account.
Over a quarter of people surveyed by the Abbey National felt that the best thing to do with the spare money they had was to use it to finance a holiday rather than put it into a savings account or other savings vehicle.
A spokesman from the Abbey National suggested taking a little bit of the money that was being allocated to holidays and use it to build up some savings. This way the person gets their holiday but also begins to build a savings fund that may well prove essential in the future.
