- Savers who sign up with Coventry can get 5.15%
- The account only allows up to three free withdrawals per year.
- The best easy-access, fixed-rate accounts are now practically at rates
Coventry Building Society now tops the easy-access savings charts with a rate of 5.15 per cent.
Savers who opened an account with Britain’s second-largest building society would earn £515 interest on a £10,000 deposit for a year.
There is a small drawback. The account only allows up to three free withdrawals per year.
Beginning with the fourth withdrawal, savers will receive a charge equivalent to 50 days of interest based on the amount they withdraw.
Online benefits: Coventry’s deal is the current market leader when it comes to easy access, but restricts savers to three withdrawals a year.
The account is only available online and savers can deposit up to £250,000, although only up to £85,000 is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) or up to £170,000 in the case of joint accounts.
Savers can choose between annual or monthly interest, which can be added to the account or paid into their linked bank account.
Savers looking for an easy-access, unrestricted account can earn 5.1 percent at both Close Brothers and Cynergy Bank.
Cahoot also offers a 5.2 per cent rate, but only on balances up to £3,000.
That said, while unlimited withdrawals are an important factor for savers. So is the ease and speed with which an account is opened.
Money deputy editor Helen Crane has already tested Coventry’s new account.
She said: ‘I opened the Triple Access account at the weekend and it was ridiculously easy.
“It took me about five minutes from start to finish and didn’t involve some of the tedious ID checks that some savings providers put you through and which can take days to complete.”
Fixed or easy access rates
Coventry’s 5.15 per cent deal means the best easy-access, fixed-rate accounts are now virtually aligned on rates.
The best fixed rate is the one-year fixed rate currently offered by SmartSave Bank and pays 5.16 per cent.
This will have some wondering if there is any reason to lock their money in a fixed rate account, which they won’t be able to access.
However, there is still an argument to settle as there is now speculation over when the Bank of England will begin cutting the base rate.
Savings rates peaked above 6 percent, but have fallen sharply since fall
While the best easy access rates are on par with the best fixed rate deals, these rates are variable and could therefore change quickly if the Bank of England starts to cut the base rate.
For savers, the question is whether they should take the opportunity to accumulate rates and set them above 5 percent now, before they are all potentially gone.
Last week, the Bank of England again kept the base rate at 5.25 percent, remaining at the level it has been at since August last year.
Following last week’s MPC meeting, markets are now pricing in 100 basis points of cuts, leaving the base rate at 4.25 per cent by the end of 2024.
Read: When will interest rates fall? Forecasts on when the base rate will drop