Savings update: Charter Savings Bank chases table-topping Goldman Sachs
3rd October 2018 09:33
by Sylvia Morris from interactive investor
Investment bank Goldman Sachs has launched an easy-access account with a table-topping interest rate.
The online savings account from Marcus, named after the bank’s founder Marcus Goldman, has an interest rate of 1.5%. The new account, which can be opened with £1, is available at marcus.co.uk.
The 1.5% rate is variable, but includes a 0.15% fixed bonus for the first year. When the bonus expires, go online and hit the reset bonus button to continue earning it for another year.
There are no restrictions on how many times you can take money out of your account each year, while the rate offered is three times the 0.49% average for easy-access accounts.
Within hours of the launch last Thursday, Charter Savings Bank announced a new version of its easy-access account, paying 1.4% with no withdrawal restrictions and no initial bonus.
You can earn 2%, or 2.01%, if you are willing to tie up your money for a year with providers including Charter Savings Bank, OakNorth, Atom, Ford Money, Investec and Tandem. Savers need to act quickly to secure such rates.
For tax-free Cash Isas, the best easy-access deal comes from Virgin Money Double Take E Isa at 1.36%, although you are restricted to three withdrawals a year.
The top rate with no withdrawal restrictions comes from Shawbrook Bank at 1.3%.
On one-year fixed rates, Paragon pays a table-topping 1.55%, followed by Bank of Cyprus UK at 1.54%, while Shawbrook Bank and Virgin Money both pay 1.51%.
How to beat inflation
To beat inflation, currently running at 2.7%, compromises need to be made as all of the small number of regular savings accounts that pay more than inflation require savers to have a current account with the provider.
Moneywise keeps tabs on the savings market and has tracked down the savings accounts that are beating inflation - although currently there are very few.
This article was originally published in our sister magazine Moneywise, which ceased publication in August 2020.
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