Best Savings Accounts as highlighted by Martin Lewis on It Pays to Watch

Sep 26

Best Savings Accounts as highlighted by Martin Lewis on It Pays to Watch

In Martin’s Minute Challenge on this week’s It Pays to Watch, money saving expert Martin Lewis concentrated on savings accounts, more specifically how to get the best and highest interest savings account on the market. With the credit crunch in full swing the good news for savers is that banks are clambering over each other for your money to be invested with them, and the chance of getting a good savings rate is pretty high.

The top rate for new cash ISAs is 6.25% easy access from the Post Office and Barclays, yet they do include introductory bonuses which you unfortunately lose after a year, and according to Martin Lewis, Barclays has had poor feedback.

For those who have an existing HSBC current account, you should be able to get the same rate of 6.25% from their cash ISA with no introductory bonus to lose.

If you have an old cash ISA you should really check out Natwest’s latest ISA offering. Martin Lewis described the Natwest ISA as a ‘phenomenal deal’ on It Pays to Watch. Transfer your old cash ISAs to Natwest’s new cash ISA and you earn up to 7.32%. Click here for more details.

Martin Lewis suggested that if you save regularly, you can put up to £250 a month into Barclays Monthly Saver at 7.75%. Barclays Monthly Saver pays out 7.75% interest fixed for a year. Click here for more details and to apply for this high interest monthly savings account.

The best savings accounts after cash ISAs and high interest monthly savings accounts are normal savings accounts. Martin Lewis suggested that the top ‘clean, no tricks, easy access’ deal is currently 6.55% from Kaupthing Edge which pays out 0.3% above the Bank of England base rate and guarantees to beat the Bank of England base rate until 2012.

Paying slightly less than the Kaupthing Edge savings account at 6.55% which is obviously dependent on the BoE base rate are 6.5% savings accounts from Bradford and Bingley (the Bradford and Bingley Internet Saver account) and Birmingham Midshires (the Birmingham Midshires e-saver account). For those not on the internet, Anglo Irish bank has a savings account at 6.4%

Finally, people who are prepared to lock their cash away in a savings account for a year should consider ICICI. The ICICI savings account offers a rate of 7.2% fixed for 12 months. Click here for an ICICI savings account.