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Yorkshire Building Society has raised the rate on its market leading easy access savings deal.
Are Online Rainy Day account increased from 3 percent to 3.35 percent on balances up to 5,000.
However, for those who want to save more, the rate is reduced.
Top of the market: Yorkshire Building Society’s deal tops our independent best-buy price list by 0.49 percentage points
Any cash held above £5,000 earns a rate of 2.85 per cent – up from 2.5 per cent previously.
Savers can open an account with as little as £1 and save up to £500,000, although only £85,000 is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
The account can only be accessed and managed online, as the name suggests.
As for savers who have already opened an account, they can expect their rates to rise accordingly as well.
>> View the best easily accessible savings rates
The increase means that someone with £5,000 in this account will earn £170 after a year if interest rates stayed the same.
Someone who puts £10,000 into this account can earn £321 after a year.
Despite being far ahead of the second best easy access rates on the market, the deal does come with a major limitation, meaning it won’t be for everyone.
It allows only two withdrawals per year from the account without loss of any interest, with the year on the anniversary of the account opening.
Savers can close their account at any time, even if they have used up all their withdrawal days.
It is therefore not suitable for someone who has to rely on their savings several times a year.
Because the rate is tiered, it may also be less attractive to someone with a large savings balance who will earn most of their interest on the lower 2.85 percent rate.
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Is the Yorkshire BS savings account a good deal?
The average easily accessible interest rate is 1.56 per cent, according to Moneyfacts, so the Yorkshire BS account rate is generous.
For someone who wants to stash a rainy day emergency jar that they don’t expect to access more than once or twice a year, this could be a good option.
But anyone who wants a savings account that they can get in and out of more often should consider Zopa’s app instead Smart Saver account.
Zopa’s deal offers unlimited access and pays 2.86 per cent on balances up to £85,000 – with FSCS protection up to that amount.
Savers can also increase their rate to 3.26 percent by holding money longer through a selection of linked cancellation accounts.
Above the rest: Yorkshire’s Online Rainy Day account pays more than double the rate of the typical easily accessible deal for credits up to £5,000
However, if they are happy with the limited access, it will be more lucrative to hide their money with Yorkshire.
Someone who puts £10,000 into the Yorkshire deal instead of Zopa will earn £32 more in interest over the course of the year based on current rates.
However, savers who currently bank with HSBC or Barclays may fare slightly better.
Barclays banking customers who sign up for the Blue Rewards program can take advantage of an exclusive, easy-to-access savings deal.
The Barclay’s Rainy Day Saver account pays 5.12 per cent interest on balances up to £5,000. That could add up to over £250 in interest after a year.
The downside is that savers have to pay £5 a month to become a Blue Rewards member, but it also comes with other benefits, such as £5 monthly cashback for having two direct debits paid from the bank account.
Meanwhile, HSBCs Online bonus savings account is essentially an easy-to-access deal that pays 3 per cent on balances up to £10,000, exclusively for HSBC bank customers.
The downside is that the 3 percent rate only applies to the month in which no money is withdrawn.
During a month in which a withdrawal is made or the account is closed, savers earn only 0.5 percent.
This means that depositors who sign up would be wise to think of this account as their emergency fund, rather than day-to-day savings that they can dip in and out of.
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