There’s a new market leader in the instant access savings accounts sector, with one Dutch-based bank offering a new 3.10 per cent interest rate on deposits to reclaim its top spot, experts say.
Personal and business bank account provider ING Direct had offered the headline rate on its instant access saver in the past, only to drop it to 2.90 per cent. This past January saw the Post Office leap ahead of this rate, but now ING Direct has once more brought its rates up in order to provide a competitive alternative to savers looking for the best returns.
The ING Direct account is available to savers with a minimum £1 deposit, and while there are other providers offering higher rates of return to savers, the terms and conditions of their deals are much more restrictive. Coventry Building Society offers 0.05 percentage points over ING Direct, but savers with the building society can only make 4 annual withdrawals before risking penalties, and while one Nationwide account offers 0.02 percentage points over the Coventry deal, it is even more restrictive – allowing only one withdrawal every 12 months and requiring a balance of at least £25,000 – making ING Direct a best buy in the eyes of financial experts and savers alike.
However, for all the excellent features of the newly revamped instant access saver from ING, there is still one glaring problem; the high interest rate is due in almost its entirety to a bonus rate that expires after the first year. Once the initial 12 months is up, the base rate drops to an abysmal 0.5 per cent, which means that savers will need to move their cash to a better option or risk losing big as a result.