No notice period. Interest paid monthly or annually. Apply in minutes. Your eligible deposits with RCI Bank UK Limited are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the FSCS
Instant access to your savings. Unlimited deposits and withdrawals. Interest paid monthly, either to a linked current account, or adding it to your Online Flexi Saver account. Easy application process, you just need a UK mobile phone and UK driving licence or passport. Manage account online. Maximum balance £250,000. Must have a linked UK current account. Your eligible deposits with Investec Bank are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the FSCS
Save from £1. Unlimited payments and withdrawals. Interest paid annually. Open in a single or a joint name. Maximum deposit £500,000. Open and manage account online. FSCS Protected. Must be UK resident. Must be aged 16 or older
Choose monthly or annual interest payments. Unlimited deposits and withdrawals. 24/7 access to your savings. Open and manage online. After 12 months the rate will revert to the underlying rate, currently 1.45% gross/AER variable. Post Office Online Saver is provided by Bank of Ireland UK. FSCS protected
Unlimited withdrawals subject to 95 days notice. No notice period. Interest paid monthly or annually. Apply in minutes. Your eligible deposits with RCI Bank UK Limited are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the FSCS
The interest rate tracks the Bank of England (BoE) Base Rate. Interest is calculated on the minimum daily balance and applied to the account on the first day of every subsequent month. Open and manage account online. Your eligible deposits are protected up to £85,000 by the FSCS. The maximum deposit you may pay into any one OakNorth Account is £500,000. The maximum amount (excluding the interest) that you will be allowed to hold on deposit with OakNorth Bank across multiple accounts is also £500,000. Unlimited withdrawals, subject to 95 days notice. Available to individuals only
Unlimited deposits and withdrawals. Interest paid monthly: can be added to your Notice Saver or paid to your linked account. Easy application process, you just need a UK mobile phone and UK driving licence or passport. Manage account online. Maximum balance £250,000. Withdrawals subject to 90 days notice. Must have a linked UK current account
All funds deposited into the RCI Bank E-Volve Savings 14 Day Notice Account will be used to fund pure electric vehicles and charging facilities. Interest paid monthly or annually. Manage account online. UK-based support, seven days a week. Unlimited withdrawals subject to 14 days notice. Your eligible deposits with RCI Bank UK Limited are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the FSCS
3 penalty-free withdrawals in a 12 month period. 4.72% AER/4.62% gross (3.82% AER/3.75% gross + 0.90% AER/0.87% gross 12-month boost). Interest paid monthly. Deposit and withdraw almost instantly. No fees or charges for holding account. FSCS eligible on your deposits. 3.62% AER/3.55% gross if 4 or more withdrawals are made within 12 months (on boosted rate). 2.72% AER/ 2.68% gross if 4 or more withdrawals are made within 12 months (without 12 month boost). Must be UK resident. Must be aged 18 or older
Banks & building societies are offering customers higher than average savings accountinterest rates if you can be tempted to switch your banking.
With a number of banks keen to attract new customers some high-interest current accounts are paying competitive interest. These accounts have different criteria and we have summarised below some of the most attractive accounts currently on offer:
Get £175 for switching, and then earn 7% AER/gross on linked regular savings account.
£175 when switching to first direct as a new customer
7% AER/gross for 12 months, available to first direct 1st Account customers who open a new Regular Saver account, saving between £25 and £300 per month
Traditionally, savings accounts have had higher rates of interest than current accounts.
However, in this era of ultra-low base interest rates, most savings accounts offer very low rates of interest, and some of the best credit interest rates are actually offered on current accounts at present.
As of February 2021, some of the accounts that pay interest at the highest levels were offering rates of around 2%, better than for many savings interest accounts.
Criteria applying to the higher interest rate
Before signing up to a high-interest bank account, you also need to read the small print carefully and examine just how good the ‘higher interest rate’ promise really is. For example:
You might need to make a minimum monthly level of payment into the account and/or a specified number of payments during the month to get the advertised interest rate
The advertised higher rate might only last for 12 months or so, after which the rate might drop dramatically. This means that if you still want an account paying a higher rate, then you might have to repeat the account switching process every year
The higher rate might only apply to the first £1,000 or £2,000 of your balance
You may have to pay a monthly fee to maintain the account
There may be a requirement to open a savings account with the bank at the same time
Some of the higher interest accounts don’t allow you to have an interest-free overdraft
The application process
Most major banks have signed up for the Current Account Switch Guarantee, under which they promise to take care of the entire process and to transfer all of your direct debits and standing orders to the new account within seven days.
They should give you a refund if anything goes wrong and you are left out of pocket as a result.
Your new bank account should give you access to a debit card, an online banking account and a mobile banking app.
Current accounts require you to provide proof of identity and proof of address at the application stage. For example, you might provide a passport or driving licence as proof of identity and a utility or council tax bill as proof of address.
The bank will consider your credit score and other factors when deciding whether to accept your current account application.
They will run a credit check, and your credit file will show that this check has been carried out.
Other things to consider
The prospect of earning some interest on your money is undoubtedly attractive, but it’s not the only thing you should consider when choosing a current account provider.
Before you automatically apply to the bank offering the highest current account interest rate, consider:
You might want a bank that has a local branch
It might be important for you to find an account with favourable overdraft rates
You might be interested in whether cashback is available
Do you travel regularly – are there foreign transaction fees?
Would you prefer a packaged account, where you get insurance and other benefits in exchange for a larger monthly fee?
