Yaspan Tech, Computers, Gadgets, Reviews, News and Analysis
The top two-year savings bond now pays 1.76pc – a drop of almost 20pc in just two months.
Charter Savings Bank has increased its rate by 0.09 percentage points from 1.67pc. But this new best-buy remains far below the top rate paid in March, when mobile-only bank Atom Bank offered 2.1pc.
Charter pushes ahead of previous market leaders Axis Bank, Paragon Bank, UBL and Sensible Savings who all offer two-year bonds paying 1.7pc.
Those willing to tie up funds for longer could earn a higher rate.
For example, National Savings & Investments pays 2.2pc for three years, although customers can only deposit up to £3,000.
This would pay £66 in a year. Charter Savings Bank customers would need to save £3,750 to earn this amount of interest in a year.
Paragon Bank offers the top four and five-year bonds which pay 2pc and 2.25pc respectively.
There have been plenty of positive moves in the savings bond market recently. Since the start of the year there have been 300 rate increases – compared to 102 cuts. This ratio supports the general picture of an improvement in rates.
However, while rates appear to be higher than last December when the top two-year bond from Atom Bank paid 1.6pc, better rates have been on offer at various points, highlighting the need to keep an eye for rates which may be on offer only briefly.
United Trust Bank’s two-year bond paid 1.8pc in March was not around for long. Just weeks after the account was withdrawn Principality launched a two-year bond which also paid 1.8pc – although this was on the market for less than two weeks.
