Savings rates are on the up again as Skipton Building Society announces the launch of a new regular saver with a market-leading 3.5% interest.
Existing Member Regular Saver
Skipton Building Society’s new savings account, the Existing Member Regular Saver, boasts a 3.5% interest rate for the first 12 months on balances up to £250. It is exclusively available to existing Skipton members who joined on or before 16 August 2021.
You can open an account with as little as £1, and once the 12 months are up, your balance will default into the society’s Easy Access saver. If you save the maximum of £250 a month for the full 12 months, you could save £3,056 over the course of a year.
Withdrawals from an Existing Member Regular Saver are not permitted, but users can close their account before the 12-month term completes if they so choose.
What is happening with savings rates?
Banks and building societies continue to battle to offer the best interest rates as speculation mounts that the Bank of England may be cornered into a rate hike by high inflation figures. You can read more about why and when interest rates may go up in our up-to-date article “When will interest rates rise (or in fact be cut)? – Latest predictions”.
Although most of the UK’s biggest high street banks are still only offering between 0.01-0.08% interest on savings accounts, rates from building societies and lesser-known banks have been creeping up over the past few months. Investec recently raised the interest on its Fixed Rate Saver from 1.05% to 1.33%, while Tandem Bank snagged the top spot for easy-access accounts last week with its 0.65% Green Instant Access Saver. Aldermore Bank has also nudged its 1 Year Fixed Rate saver from 0.70% to 0.95%.
The recent rate increases are likely to continue into the latter half of the year, as inflation creeps higher and price pressure starts to trickle down to the savings market, so we could see the current best rates climb even higher over the next few months. With dismal competition from many high-street names, it quite literally pays to shop around and find a better deal to make your money go further.
How does the Existing Member Regular Saver compare?
Skipton’s new savings account enters the market at the top of the leaderboard, soaring above the nearest competition from Saffron Building Society’s Small Saver (Issue 2), which offers 1.75% interest - only half of the Existing Member Regular Saver.
Meanwhile, Coventry Building Society’s Regular Saver (5) has a modest 1.05% interest, followed by Nationwide’s Start to Save and Principality Building Society’s 1 Year Regular Saver Bond Issue 24 with 1.00% each.
We’ve rounded up the top 5 regular savings accounts in the table below so you can see how the Existing Member Regular Saver measures up.
The top 5 regular savings accounts:
| Provider | Account name | AER | Minimum opening balance | Minimum required per month | Maximum allowed per month |
| Skipton Building Society | Existing Member Regular Saver | 3.50% | £1 | £0 | £250 |
| Saffron Building Society | Small Saver (Issue 2) | 1.75% | £1 | £1 | £50 |
| Coventry Building Society | Regular Saver (5) | 1.05% | £1 | £0 | £500 |
| Nationwide Building Society | Start to Save | 1.00% | £1 | £0 | £100 |
| Principality Building Society | 1 Year Regular Saver Bond Issue 24 | 1.00% | £20 | £0 | £250 |
Rates correct as of 24/08/2021.
How to find the best savings rates on the market
There is still plenty of movement at the top of the savings league tables, with the top spot switching almost every week, so if you’re looking to take advantage of the best deals, make sure to bookmark our savings best buy tables to stay up-to-date on all the best offers on the market. Every Friday, we round up the best accounts across regular savers, easy access, ISAs, children’s accounts, and more to give you an overview of the best offers.
