Eastlife Autumn 2020

CONSUMER
Martin
Lewis
Three top, totally
safe, savings!
Millions of people, across the nation have money
sitting in high street savings accounts earning
diddly-squat, often at 0.1% or less. Many of you are
scared to move your money as you want safety. Yet
there’s currently a way you can earn over ten times
that amount and it’s 100% safe.
This is the worst time for savers I can remember. UK interest
rates are 0.1% – the lowest in the Bank of England’s 325-year
history. The only way to get a half-decent return, is to become
an active, disloyal, aggressive saver, shifting from best rate to
best rate.
So, everyone CHECK NOW WHAT YOUR SAVINGS PAY, owt less
than 1% likely needs sorting. Below are the top ways to save, at
the time of writing, but for more detail, and daily updated best
buys see www.moneysavingexpert.com/topsavings.
The three top easy access savings
accounts are all totally safe
If you want an easy-access account where you can put
money in and withdraw when you like, then currently and
unprecedentedly, the top-paying easy-access savings all
come from by far the safest place – www.nsandi.com, the
Government-backed savings institution. So, there’s really no
excuses to be earning anything less than these…
1. NS&I Income Bonds: 1.16% AER (min £500). It’s the
highest payer and can be operated online. Deposits and
withdrawals must be in chunks of at least £500, and interest
is paid monthly into a separate account (so you don’t earn
compounded interest – unless you then put it back in).
2. NS&I Direct Saver: 1% AER (min £1). It’s simple and can be
operated online. You have full flexibility on withdrawals and
deposits, and interest is paid into the account annually and
compounds.
3. NS&I Investment Account: 0.8% AER (min £20). This is similar
to the Direct Saver, but is postal only.
An added boon with NS&I is that it’s 100% safe. While all
UK-regulated savings accounts are protected up to £85,000
per person per institution under the UK safe savings scheme,
but for those with more, as NS&I is Government-backed it’s all
protected – even if you’re lucky enough to have millions – which
many of these accounts allow you to put in.
These accounts also smash the pants of the next top rates.
www.ybs.co.uk is 0.8% AER, but minimum deposit is £10,000,
for less www.saga.co.uk is 0.75%.
And while fixed rates normally smash easy-access, as you have
to lock your money away, right now NS&I beats the top 1 year
and 2 year fixes.
Rates are variable, but I’d be surprised
if they dropped
NS&I’s rules say it must give you two months’ notice. Yet
crucially the government’s just told NS&I to increase its
fundraising from £6bn in March to £35bn now (when you save
you’re lending the govt your cash – and it needs it), so its rates
are likely to stay strong to ensure that happens. I suspect it will
very much fight to be the best buy and possibly even launch
new products.
Have debts? For most it’s better to pay
these off first
If you’re paying interest on credit cards or overdrafts and loans
(barring student loans), it’s usually far better to pay those off with
any savings, just double check for early repayment penalties
on loans. As the interest they charge is much higher than the
amount you earn in savings.
Martin Lewis is the Founder and
Chair of MoneySavingExpert.com.
To join the 13 million people who get
his free Money Tips weekly email,
go to www.moneysavingexpert.
com/latesttip
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