Barclays has lowered the interest rate on its Rainy Day Saver account in a major blow to its customers. The interest rate has now dropped from 4.87% to 4.61%.
It marks the second time Barclays has cut savings rates in the last four months. It previously offered a rate of 5.12% for its Rainy Day Saver but this was cut by the bank in February. It comes ahead of the Bank of England announcing its next interest rate decision on Thursday.
It is widely expected that interest rates will be cut from 4.5% to 4.25%. When the Bank of England base rate is lower, it generally means saving rates go down – but in more positive news, mortgage rates are also decreasing.
The top-paying savings rate right now according to MoneySavingExpert.com is a cash ISA from Trading 212 which pays 5.07%. However, this does include a temporary 0.72% bonus rate which is only available for to new customers for one year.
As this is a cash ISA, you can only save up to £20,000 into this account every tax year. The joint top-rate for normal savings accounts is 4.76% which is being paid by Sidekick and Chip.
Sidekick comes with unlimited withdrawals and a 0.72% newbie bonus, but you have to save a minimum of £5,000. The rate on the Chip account falls to 2.1% after three withdrawals, but you can open an account with just £1. This comes with a 1.2% newbie bonus.
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You can beat these rates with a regular savings accounts, although you are normally limited to how much you can save each month. Some regular savers need you to have a current account or another product with the provider already, with some may also limit withdrawals.
In most cases, the rates are fixed for a set amount of time, although some are variable. The top rate right now is 7.5% fixed for six months from Principality Building Society. With this account, you can save up to £200 a month, which means you would get £26 in interest after six months.
When choosing a savings account, always make sure you are covered by the Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which protects up to £85,000 of your money if a provider goes bust.
It comes after Barclays started paying out compensation to customers who were affected by a major outage earlier this year. Thousands of people were left unable to make and receive payments at the end of January following a glitch that lasted several days.
Barclays previously confirmed that if you were left out of pocket due to the glitch, it would compensate you. For example, if you couldn’t pay a bill and were hit with late payments.
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