Hammered by inflation

MONEY Mail advises savers to consider abandoning high Street banks, which offer only an abysmal 0.1 pc interest on easy-access accounts. alternative banks offer a higher return and 2pc is available with a top one-year, fixed-rate bond.

Most people like me with fairly modest savings are ultra-cautious, want zero risk and a copper-bottomed guarantee that our cash is safe.

We are not looking for high returns, but just want our money to keep its value, with a modest amount of interest, but inflation is a silent and insidious form of robbery.

The governor of the Bank of england expresses sympathy for the plight of savers seeing the value of their money eroded because of low interest rates and high inflation.

To counter this, why can’t the government bring back index-linked savings certificates?

PETER HENRICK, Birmingham.

TO COMBAT inflation, pass on the interest rate rise to savers, resulting in a slowing down of spending and creating an incentive to put away money. If there is no alternative but to spend as money loses value, this only increases inflation.

TIM JAMES, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan.

DUE to global financial uncertainty, savings have taken quite a hammering. But watching the pennies can minimise some of that damage.

We are hunkering down as best we can. the u.S. and most of europe are similarly being affected so I am not naive enough to think the government can buck a global trend.

In a year or so we’ll come out of these doldrums and hopefully the losses in our savings will be replaced as the economy takes off again.

PHILIP Munro, Manchester.