Bank savings interest rates start to come down
August 5, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, News-Banking
The interest rates being offered to savers with some banks have already started to fall following the recent base rate cut from the Bank of England. Following the latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting early in December the Bank of England announced that interest rates would be falling by 0.25% taking the rate from 5.75% to 5.5%. This followed a series of five interest rate rises between August 2006 and July 2007, after which there were several months where the interest rate remained unchanged at 5.75%.
The news was welcomed by millions of borrowers across the UK, as well a by many industry professionals. However, on the downside, those with savings tucked away in high interest accounts could see their interest rate levels come down. In fact, some experts state that some savers could see their interest rate cut twice on their savings, and this is because a number of banks cut the interest rate on savings just prior to the announcement by the Bank of England, which means that they can now effectively cut the rate again.
Some banks have already cut their savings account interest rates, and this includes Abbey, Barclays Halifax, Lloyds TSB, NatWest and RBS. Savers are urged to make sure they keep an eye on their savings interest rates, and if necessary start looking around for an alternative savings accounts that offers more in terms of benefits or a higher rate of interest on savings. This is because banks doe not have to automatically inform customers if rates are cut up to a certain level, which means that it may be up to the saver to keep an eye on the interest rate being paid on their savings.
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