NS&I pulls 1-year Bonds with over 6% interest – how to get the best rate

NS&I has announced it has withdrawn its 1-year Guaranteed Income and Growth Bonds from general sale after almost a quarter of a million savers had invested into the accounts. The Bonds, which went on sale on 30th August 2023 each offered over 6% in interest with savers also benefitting from complete protection on deposited funds up to £1million. Savers could purchase a bond until Thursday 5th October 2023 with new sales stopping from Friday 6th October 2023. If you had submitted a postal application for the bonds, NS&I says it will honour these over a 'reasonable period'.

NS&I Chief Executive, Dax Harkins, said: “This summer’s new one-year fixed-rate Bonds have been a great success. I am pleased we were able to keep them on sale for over five weeks, enabling more than 225,000 savers to benefit from the highest interest rates we have ever offered on these products.”

Alternative NS&I savings accounts

If you missed out on one of NS&I's Guaranteed Income or Growth Bonds, NS&I still has other options available on its website. At present its Green Savings Bond offers a 3-year fixed interest rate of 5.70% on balances up to £100,000. Alternatively, while not a savings account, the notional interest rate on NS&I's Premium Bonds currently sits at 4.65%.

For more information on the other accounts offered by NS&I, visit the NS&I website.

Alternative savings accounts

You may also be able to earn better rates on your savings with accounts offered by other banks. We round up some of the best rates in our article, 'Best savings accounts in the UK' or in our Best Buy Savings Tables. Our article, 'How to earn over 5% on your savings' also lists a number of accounts with some of the best interest rates on the market.

It is worth remembering that unlike NS&I, where you have complete protection on deposited funds up to £1 million, money deposited with banks and building societies is only protected up to £85,000 for an individual or up to £170,000 for joint account holders. You also need to be mindful that some banks and building societies share banking licences meaning you could have less protection than you think. For more information, check out our article that explains the financial services compensation scheme (FSCS) in more detail.

The table below highlights some of the accounts on the market with interest rates over 6%. These accounts do however require you to bank with the provider in order to benefit from the rates, but if you are not an existing current account holder you may also be able to switch to the bank and receive a switching incentive for doing so. More information can be found in our article, 'Best current account switching offers'.

Savings accounts offering over 6% interest - a comparison

	Nationwide	Skipton	First Direct	Lloyds Bank	NatWest
Account Name	Flex Regular Saver Issue 2	Member Regular Saver Issue 2	Regular Saver Account	Club Lloyds Monthly Saver	Digital Regular Saver
Interest Rate (AER)	8.00%	7.50%	7.00%	6.25%	6.17%
Account Type	Regular Saver	Regular Saver	Regular Saver	Regular Saver	Regular Saver
Minimum opening Balance	£200	£1	£25	£1	£1
Maximum monthly contribution	£200	£250	£300	£400	£150
Summary	Only available to Nationwide current account holders.	Only available to existing Skipton members who joined on or before 31/05/23	Only available to First Direct current account holders.	Only available to Club Lloyds current account holders (which includes min monthly deposit of £1,500 or £3 fee).	Only available to NatWest current account holders.

(Correct as of 06/10/23)