Has your savings rate risen?

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated: 19:00 EST, 9 June 2004

THE Bank of England has put the base rate up from 4.25% to 4.5%. This rolling service will be constantly updated as banks and building societies announce how much of the increase they will be passing on to savers - if any.

Chelsea Building Society has announced it will increase rates on a range of savings accounts by 0.25%, in line with the base rate rise. The Call Direct account will now pay 4.15%, while the rate on its cash mini Isa will increase to 4.50%. Savers with a Ready Steady Save account will see the interest rate rise by 0.25% to 4.85%

Internet bank Cahoot will raise its rates by the full 0.25 percentage points but savers will not see the benefit until July 8. Its Savings Account will pay an annual equivalent rate of 4.85% on balances up to £250,000. Current account holders will earn an annual 4% on its cheque book account and 4.1% if they forego a chequebook.

Derbyshire Building Society is putting up rates for savers by up to 0.35% from 1 July, with the average saver seeing an increase of 0.26%, according to Derbyshire.

Abbey has announced it will raise rates on its flagship acocunts by the full 0.25 percentage point rise in base rate from 1 July. Postal Isa goes up to 5.1% tax-free on a minimum £1 and its branch-based Flexible Saver also benefits in full. The bank is also raising rates by the full amount on e-Saver with rates starting at 4.35% before tax. But savers in some of its closed accounts, including Investor 30 and Instant Saver, will see smaller rises of 0.15 to 0.2 points.

Intelligent Finance, which failed to pass on any of May's base rate rise, will give savers the full 0.25 points this time round. Its Direct Access Savings rate rises to 4.5% from 25 June. Its cash mini Isa rate will be 4.85% from the same date.

Nationwide was the first account provider to fail to pass on the full base rate increase to all savers, having inflicted a full increase on mortgage borrowers. It will put the rate on its internet savings accounts up by between 0.20% and 0.25%.

Saga is set to put up the rate on its Secure Savings Account by the full 0.25%. It will rise from 4% to 4.25% with effect from 1 July.

Online bank Egg will increase the rate on its internet savings account by 0.25%. It will rise from 4.25% to 4.5% from 23 June. The rate on the account is guaranteed to match the base rate until the end of 2007.

Virgin is passing on the full 0.25% increase on its deposit account. The rate will rise from 3.75% to 4% with effect from 17 June.

HSBC was the first lender off the mark, with the announcement it would increase savings rate across its entire range by the full 0.25%, with effect from 2 July. The move will see its cash Isa rate rise from 3.85% to 4.10%. Mortgage rates are 'under review'.

Tesco Personal Finance has followed suit by putting up rates for customers with an Instant Access savings account by the full 0.25%. The interest rate will increase from 3.10% to 3.35% for customers with between £1 to £3,000, up to 4.5% for balances of £50,000+.

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