Coventry launches Best Buy Savings deal – but you’ll only get the top rate if you open it online

Coventry Building Society has launched a best savings deal with a rate of 4.83 per cent.

The account is open to new and existing members and can be opened with £1.

Savers opening an account with Britain’s second largest building society would earn £483 interest on a £10,000 deposit over a year.

But it comes with a few catches – the biggest of them all is that the account only allows a maximum of three free withdrawals per year, so it’s not strictly a purely easy-to-access account.

From the fourth withdrawal onwards, savers receive a fee equal to 50 days’ interest based on the amount they withdraw.

And customers who open the account in a branch or as a postal or telephone account will get a smaller rate of 4.33 percent – it has 69 branches in Britain. It is also ready to acquire Co-op Bank early next year.

The 4.83 per cent account is only available online and savers can deposit up to £250,000, albeit with only up to £85,000 protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or up to £170,000 in the case of joint accounts.

Savers can choose from annual or monthly interest, which can be added to the account or paid into their linked bank account.

Savers looking for an easy access account with no restrictions can get 4.81 per cent with Monument Bank – but it has a minimum limit of £20,000.

Meanwhile, Dudley Building Society’s easy access deal pays 4.75 per cent.

Cahoot offers a 5 percent rate, but only on balances up to £3,000.

For savers who can withdraw cash more than three times a year, this is the top rate.

> Best Access Account: See this is the money’s independent best buy tables

Easy access rates have taken a battering since the Bank of England cut interest rates to 5 percent in August and kept them at the same level last week.

Previously, savers could find easily accessible rates paying 5.1 percent. Savers would be wise to hold onto the savings rates to ensure they get the best deal.

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