This simple savings campaign could make you hundreds of dollars richer, but you need to act NOW: SYLVIA MORRIS

There’s a strange pattern emerging in the world of savings – and it’s sure to benefit smart savers.

As you might expect, interest rates on easy-access accounts are falling after the Bank of England cut the base rate from 5 to 4.75 percent last month.

But the rates on another type of account remain unchanged – or even increase. This growing gap offers valuable opportunities.

Several providers of one-year fixed-rate bonds increased their interest rates last week and now pay a generous 4.65 to 4.8 percent.

These include SmartSave, Tandem Bank, Secure Trust and Close Brothers. Ziraat Bank offers a near top interest rate of 4.8 percent for one year through the Raisin savings platform.

Virgin Money (now part of Nationwide) increased its one-year bill from 4.11 percent to 4.52 percent. And newcomer Vida Savings launched its first account: a one-year bond with a fixed interest rate of 4.77 percent, also available through the savings platform Hargreaves Lansdown.

Hargreaves has upped the ante by adding a cashback offer of up to £150 if you move £75,000 to the Active Savings platform before February 5. A big sum, but even if you move just £10,000 you’ll get £20 – the equivalent of increasing the Vida rate to 4.97 per cent.

So if you see a fixed rate bond you like, grab it. Because once providers have brought in their target amount of deposits, they quickly reduce interest rates to reduce the flow.

Savers who take out a top one-year contract can earn interest more than double the current inflation rate of 2.3 percent.

Consider a fixed rate bond if you’ve used up your entire £20,000 annual Isa allowance and have enough money in an easily accessible account to access in an emergency. The main advantage over easy-access accounts is that the rate does not change for the entire term. But make sure you are happy to commit your money.

One of the reasons that fixed-rate bond yields are holding up is that more and more providers are looking for money to grow their businesses.

London-based BACB (British Arab Commercial Bank), Ziraat Bank, Stream Bank, Conister Bank, JN Bank, Vida Savings and credit union Plane Saver are among them.

Newer banks tend to pay the best rates to convince savers to use them. But choose one covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and your money is protected.

The scheme gives you cover of up to £85,000 – £170,000 on joint accounts – in the unlikely event that the provider gets into trouble.

The second reason why rates are so competitive right now is that savers love easy-to-access accounts so much that providers have to lure them away.

Savers added £14 billion to easy-access accounts last month, Bank of England figures show. It’s the biggest jump ever, barring a few months during the pandemic, when many households had no alternative but to save as it wasn’t possible to spend money on treats like holidays.

But the number of accounts paying 4.7 percent or more has halved in the past month to just four – and interest rates are likely to continue falling.

If all your money is in easy-to-access accounts and you can afford to put some money away longer, now might be a good time.