While other personal and business bank account providers are slashing their rates left and right, the Post Office recently topped the best buy tables for both easy access savings accounts and for two year fixed rate bonds.
The financial services provider’s new easy access account pays 3.01 per cent before taxes. Likewise the Post Office’s new two-year fix pays an interest rate of 3.96 per cent, which toppled Santander’s offering after it cut its 4 per cent rate down to 3.5 per cent earlier this month.
Savings rates have wobbled as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee seems to turn a deaf ear to cries from beleaguered savers to raise the base rate from its current historic low of 0.5 per cent. The average payout on an instant access saver in the UK is only 0.9 per cent, leading industry experts to predict a rise above 1 per cent will not occur until the MPC finally decides to increase the base rate.
Despite this, there are still attractive savings deals available to savers who spend time shopping around for the most attractive offers. The Post Office’s 3.01 per cent account is tied for second place in the best buy tables with Nationwide, while both financiers are beaten out by the Poppy Online Saver from Coventry BS, which tops the tables at 3.1 per cent and supports the British Legion to boot.
The Post Office also offers an option for savers looking for monthly interest payments at a slightly reduced 2.97 per cent rate. Industry experts say that this could be just what the doctor ordered for pensioners in search of a temporary place to deposit their cash in the short term.