FIVE STEPS TO GETTING A BETTER RATE

“If you leave your money languishing in an easy access account with the high street giants, you’ll be getting 0.1% typically – or as little as 0.01%, says Sarah Coles of Hargreaves Lansdown. “But you don’t have to settle for that, because there are steps you can take to bag a rate that’s more than 20 times better.”

1 MOVE MONEY

The longer your money sits in an account, the less it tends to pay – banks will gradually cut back when they think you’re unlikely to switch.

2 CONSIDER SMALLER AND ONLINE BANKS

These consistently offer most of the best rates. It can feel like a difficult step to move money somewhere less familiar, but the banks have to follow stringent rules to operate in the UK.

Just double check you’re protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so if something goes wrong the first £85,000 you have is completely protected.

3 LOOK LOCALLY

In some cases, building societies near you will have market-beating deals only available to locals, particularly on cash ISAs.

Currently, the most competitive easy access cash ISA is Suffolk Building Society’s 1.3% (for existing customers and locals).

4 CONSIDER FIXING

If you’re prepared to tie your money up, you can get more. This doesn’t make sense for emergency savings, but for cash you won’t need to access for six months to five years, a fixed rate account could pay more.

5 FIND THE RIGHT FIX

There’s no right length of time to fix, it depends on circumstances. However, the gap between rates on short-term fix and longer-term accounts has narrowed, so consider six months or one/two year fixed rate accounts.