Top accounts vanish after just 2 weeks

SAVERS are facing chaos when trying to pick a top account.

Some deals are disappearing within days of being launched. And a flurry of moves by banks and building societies last week, which pushed some rates up and others down, is forcing savers to rethink almost daily which account is best.

The changes also mean the gap between the best and worst accounts is wider.

If you are earning a poor rate, you still need to move. You might not earn much more interest, but at least you will have the satisfaction of making your money work as hard as it can while rates stay at their historic lows.

You can earn as much as 1.1 pc in the best easyaccess account — but only 0.01 pc in the worst, from big banks such as NatWest. On £10,000, that’s a difference of £110 interest a year or just £1.

But you need to act quickly. Nottingham Building Society has closed its toppaying ESaver at 1.02 pc to new customers after being on sale for just a fortnight.

In unprecedented moves last week, some providers, including Post Office, Saga, Virgin Money and Sainsbury’s Bank, edged rates up on some accounts.

But others, including National Savings & Investments, TSB and Nationwide, dished out cuts.

And some launched new, toppaying accounts. Leeds Building Society launched a new version of its Limited Edition Online Access saver at a near top 1.05 pc, while AA Savings, where the deposittaker is Bank of Ireland, revealed a new easyaccess online deal at 0.86 pc exclusively for members.

Saga pushed up the rate on its Telephone Saver for new customers to 0.8 pc and its cash Isa rate, including a bonus for 18 months, to 0.95 pc.

But Nationwide cut the rate on its Instant Isa Saver to 0.5 pc.

While it raised the rate on one account, Virgin Money cut the rate on another.

Its standard Easy Access Saver, which lets you make as many withdrawals as you want, now pays a miserly 0.25 pc, down from 0.5 pc.

You need to plough through a host of terms and conditions to ensure any toppaying account suits your needs.

The top online easyaccess account from Frenchowned RCI Bank pays 1.1 pc. Next comes Leeds BS Online Access at 1.05 pc, followed by Virgin Money Defined Access Saver at 1.01 pc.

RCI is a simple savings account, while the Leeds BS deal lasts only until February next year. Then the society will move your money into another easyaccess account. It will not announce the rate or the exact account until nearer the end date. Virgin Money’s deal lets you make only up to three withdrawals a year — if you make any more, the rate drops to 0.25 pc. The Virgin deal is on offer in the High Street, too. Other top deals here include Coventry BS Easy Access Saver at 0.85 pc or Kent Reliance and Newcastle BS at 0.8 pc. They pay over ten times more than Halifax Instant Saver’s 0.05 pc and eight times as much as Nationwide Instant Access Saver’s 0.1 pc. On easyaccess cash Isas, top deals include Virgin Money at 1.01 pc, but you can make only three withdrawals a year. It’s double the rate you will earn in the M&S Advantage Isa, once among our best buy tables, which cuts its rate from 0.8 pc to 0.5 pc next week. Fixedrate deals are also edging up. On taxable bonds, Charter Savings Bank pays 1.38 pc for a year. In the High Street, Leeds BS pays 1.2 pc for 15 months.