Together, we Britons hold more than £900billion in easy access accounts, ideal for dipping into when we need to plunder our savings.
If we’re listening to financial advisers, it’s where we stash around three to six months’ salary.
Now an easy access account with a twist is surging in popularity: the limited access deal. Last week Paragon came out with a new version that propelled it to the top of the easy access savings best buy tables.
> Get 5.78% with this 365-day notice account that beats top one-year fixes
Popular: With limited access accounts you can withdraw money between two and four times a year. You can go over the limit but then your rate will plummet for the rest of the year
With limited access accounts you can withdraw money between two and four times a year.
You can go over this limit but your rate will plummet for the rest of the year. Or you must close the account to get hold of more of your money.
You can, for example, keep £5,000 in an ordinary easy access account which you can dip into as you see fit (shoes! theatre! paddleboard!).
But for the rest, including planned expenditure such as on flights and holidays or a new car, these limited access accounts can serve you well.
Providers also benefit because the money is more likely to stay in the account than in an ordinary easy access account.
The Paragon Double Access Account Issue 7 pays 5.05 per cent, available online with a minimum £1,000, and lets you make two withdrawals every 12 months.
It’s way ahead of the average ordinary easy access account at 3.11 per cent, say data scrutineers at Moneyfactscompare.
You can make more withdrawals but you pay a hefty price if you do. Your rate drops to 1.5 per cent for the rest of the year.
Once the 12 months is up, your rate resets at the higher rate on the anniversary of your opening your account.
Yorkshire BS pays 5 per cent on its Rainy Day Saver account on balances up to £10,000. You can make as many withdrawals as you like but only on two days a year.
If you need to make more you can close the account.
Some of the best ordinary easy access savings accounts pay over 5 per cent. The new Oxbury Bank Easy Access Limited Edition stands at 5.02 per cent but you need to keep at least £20,000 in the account.
Savers can expect these rates to fall when the Bank of England base rate goes down from its current 5.25 per cent which could be as early as June 20.
Supermarket banks ready to check out
When Tesco Bank and Sainsbury’s Bank came on the scene nearly 30 years ago, they threatened the big banks.
Suddenly you could open savings accounts online, by phone or even doing the weekly shop.
But they stopped operating in store years ago and are set to retreat further. Sainsbury’s Bank meted out huge cuts this week in the fixed rate bonds it offers new customers. Its two-year rate is down from 4.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent for new savers.
Its variable rates for new accounts are also down by 0.9 percentage points. Its cash Isa rate has fallen from 4.4 per cent to 3.5 per cent.
The Bank of England held the base rate at 5.25 per cent so it’s hard to see the cuts as anything other than a winding down of its savings arm.
Meanwhile, Barclays is in the throes of buying Tesco Bank and plans to offer Tesco-branded savings products.