The accounts with 13 mind–boggling pages of small print

SAVerS should be offered a range of simple accounts that are easy to understand, it was announced last week.

But these accounts, promoted by the Government, will not see the light of day for at least 12 months. Meanwhile, savers will continue t o be confused, confounded and cheated.

in Money Mail’s Get Britain Saving campaign launched last September, we called for banks and building s ocieties to simplify cash isa and easyaccess accounts in an increasingly complicated market.

One of the sneaky tricks they use is to lure customers with high rates that won’t last.

Banks and building societies routinely spice up their offers by advertising headline deals of as much as 3.5 pc before tax for a year by adding a bonus. But this interest falls dramatically after 12 months.

When the bonus disappears, you can be left with a paltry 0.08 pc interest after tax (0.1 pc before tax).

On t op of t his, t here are reams of accounts with similar names. Payouts can be cut at any time — a practice that has i ncreased dramatically over the past few months.

Halifax now has no fewer than 13 easy-access accounts — some closed to new savers — with 28 different rates.

these vary from 0.08 pc (0.1 pc) to 1.8 pc (2.25 pc). What you get depends on when you opened the account, how much you have in it and whether you run it over internet, telephone or through its branches. it has a further four easy-access cash isas with 16 different rates.

Lloyds tSB also has 13 easyaccess accounts with rates ranging between 0.08 pc (0.1 pc) and 1.28 pc (1.6 pc).

in i ts e - Savings account, currently on offer, you earn 1 pc (1.25 pc) for the first 12 months. But in its closed Online Saver your rate is just 0.08 pc (0.1pc).

Santander has 13 pages of rates for savers to trawl through. it has 15 easy-access accounts, with rates as l ow as 0.08 pc (0.1 pc), and 20 different cash isas, including 13 different issues of its Direct isa.

Nationwide savers grapple with 11 versions of easy- access accounts, paying from 0.08 pc (0.1 pc) to 1.8 pc (2.25 pc), and nine different isas ranging from 0.1 pc to 3.1 pc.

Which account you are in can mean a difference of £ 300 a year in interest on each £10,000 you invest. Accounts have become extremely complicated — savers have to plough through pages of terms and conditions to ensure the account matches their needs. You could find you are limited to the number of withdrawals you make, or you lose all your initial bonus if you close your account within the first 12 months.

Savers looking to open a Halifax everyday Saver easy- access account face 40 pages of terms and conditions. With Santander’s new Direct iSA Saver there are 16 pages.

the proposed Simple Financial Products easy-access accounts come with a special badge making them i dentifiable to savers. each provider will offer the same terms and conditions. But until they arrive, use our guide to simple savings accounts from what’s on offer now in the blue box above.