Should you be a part of rush to financial savings platforms that provide high offers?

Savings platforms offer the ability to manage your cash savings in one place and can offer top deals and cashback that boosts rates.

The platforms might not always offer all the best rates on the market but have a  selection of deals that challenge the top of the savings tables.

And by giving savers the chance to keep tabs on accounts in one place, they can mean it’s less likely to slip up and fall on to an poor rate when deals end.

Our savings expert, Sylvia Morris, takes a look.

> Savings platforms: Check the best rates in our special tables 

Pick and mix: Savings platforms are essentially online savings account supermarkets, which give you access to accounts from more than 60 banks and building societies in one place

Savings platforms tell me they are becoming ever-more popular.  And they are determined to bring their wares to a wider public.

Last week Flagstone, one of the largest platforms which has 600,000 customers, launched its first television advert to show how it can help savers. 

The group has grown in popularity, with customer deposits growing by £1 billion every three months last year.

Meanwhile, Raisin has launched another £50 bonus offer that can effectively give rates a boost to make the beat best buys.

Savings platforms are essentially online savings account supermarkets, which give you access to accounts from more than 60 banks and building societies in one place.

The aim is to make it easy for you to get the most from your savings, by being able to compare all the deals in one place and cut out time-consuming research and form filling.

You upload your details on the platform when you sign up — and that’s it. You don’t have to do it again (and again) to open another account listed on the website.

You can pick and mix accounts — be it a fixed-rate bond, easy-access account or any combination you want. 

You can then see all your savings and accounts in one place and using just one password.

Outside a platform, the whole process can be tedious. Savers are forced through the rigmarole of filling in an application form every time they open an account. 

Each provider then needs to check you out electronically through a credit agency if you are a new customer.

And sometimes details don’t match, for example if you have moved house. Some providers say you can’t open an account at all. Others ask for more proof.

Some still ask you to post in certified copies of your driving licence or passport with a letter showing your address. At this point, I would move on to the next bank.

I should admit I haven’t saved on one of these platforms. This is because there is a risk you could miss out on the very top rate if it is not on offer.

Each platform offers different accounts, depending on what they have negotiated with banks and building societies. 

Rates and providers constantly change. Apart from Hargreaves Lansdown, they don’t offer tax-free cash Isas. Flagstone, Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings and Raisin UK are the main platforms.

> Find out more about savings platforms and check their best deals 

> Get 5.78% interest with Prosper’s 365-day notice savings deal

Coventry’s deal with Co-op – what it means for savers

Coventry Building Society has signed along the dotted line to buy Co-operative Bank.

Its board says the £780 million deal will bring about a stronger society, which will continue to offer decent savings accounts.

It will also give the society a larger branch network and enable it to offer a current account.

Now it awaits approval from the industry regulator and, if all goes smoothly, expects the deal to go through in the first three months of next year.

The two organisations will continue to operate as separate brands while Coventry works behind the scenes to join them together.

You will also have the full £85,000 cover for each group under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for ‘several years’, the building society says.