How to get 9% interest without tying up your savings for years - Your Money (2024)

Interest on savings accounts are improving following 12 consecutiveBank of England base rate rises(now at 4.5%) since December 2021.

The best you can get on an instant access account is 3.85% AER (Issue 7), requiring a minimum deposit of £1,000 with Secure Trust Bank. The West Brom Double Access Account (Issue 2) also pays 3.85% AER on a minimum £1.

This may be the best rate in years, but it’s still way belowinflation, which stood at 8.7% in the year to April 2023, meaning your money is losing value in real terms.

Currently, savers can get 5.35% AER on a fixed rate deal, but it means tying up your cash for at least five years with Raisin, via the provider Tandem.

But there are other ways to beat this rate – as well as inflation – and earn up to 9% interest on your cash without having to lock it up for years…

Earn 9% with Saffron Building Society

The Saffron Building Society Members’ Month Loyalty Saver is for existing customers – those who have been with it a year or more (1 June 2022) which means around 96,400 out of 100,000 members are eligible.

This “limited edition” regular savings account is offered on a first-come, first-served basis, so you may need to go quick if you want to get it.

It can be opened online or in branch with a minimum of £1 and you can save between £1 and maximum £50 a month.

You can make multiple payments into the account each calendar month, but you can’t make up shortfalls in subsequent months.

Based on the maximum £50 a month contribution, the estimated balance at the end of the 12 months would be £629.25.

Net 7.5% with Skipton Building Society

The Skipton Building Society Member Regular Saver (Issue 2) pays 7.5% gross/AER on a minimum £1 and maximum of £3,000 a year.

It’s for existing customers who held a savings or mortgage account with it on or before 31 May 2023. It can be opened online, over the phone, by post or in branch.

The maximum you can deposit each calendar month is £250, though there’s no minimum monthly subscription amount or limit on the number of times you can deposit cash. Any unused allowance can be rolled up into the next month which refreshes on the 1st of each month.

Based on £250 deposited each month with no withdrawals, you would have a total balance of £3,161 at maturity.

Earn 7% with First Direct

TheFirst Direct Regular Saver rate doubled to 7% last year. The account is only available to First Direct 1st Account customers. But new, non-First Direct customers who want the rate can open a 1st Account and then open a Regular Saver, bagging £175 for the switch in the process. Both new and existing customers must apply for the account online.

Account holders can save between £25 and £300 a month and you have to keep the money in the account for a year without withdrawals. The 7% interest will be paid in a lump sum after 12 months and based on a £300 contribution each month over the year, you’ll earn £136.50 interest(gross).

Earn 6.25% with the Club Lloyds Monthly Saver

The Club Lloyds Monthly Saver pays 6.25% AER for those depositing between £25 and £400 each month (it needs to land in your account before the 25th of the month), and allows you to withdraw your cash without penalty.

The interest will be paid at the end of the 12-month period. Based on a £400 deposit every month for 12 months, you will have a balance of £4,950 after interest is paid. Upon maturity, cash is moved to its Standard Saver which currently pays between 0.90% gross/AER and 1.5% gross/AER depending on your balance.

Do note that the Club Lloyds current account has a £3 monthly fee, though it is waived each month you pay in £2,000 or more.

Other Lloyds current accounts (Platinum, Club Lloyds Platinum, Silver and Club Lloyds Silver) come with a monthly fee between £10 and £21, on top of the £3 a month Club Lloyds fee if you don’t pay in the minimum.

Earn 6.17% with NatWest or Royal Bank of Scotland

NatWest and RBS (part of the NatWest group) both offer a Digital Regular Saver to their respective current account customers. NatWest won at the YourMoney.com Awards 2022 in the category of Best Everyday Current Account Provider.

The accounts pay 6.17% AER /6% gross (variable) interest on balances up to £5,000. Balances above this earn 1% AER/gross (variable).

You can pay up to £150 via a standing order or ad-hoc payments into the account each calendar month.

However, you can also set up debit card round-ups to be transferred to this account and they don’t count towards your monthly £150 limit – so it’s possible to stash away a lot more than £150 a month.

NatWest and RBS are currently running ‘Double Ups’ which allow customers to double the amount that is rounded up and transferred to savings accounts. For example, if you make a payment of £4.50 in a shop, with Double Ups, instead of 50p being transferred, it will transfer £1 to your savings account.

To quickly build your savings balance, use your NatWest or RBS debit card for all your everyday card purchases and where possible, try to split transactions.

NatWest Groupis also offering new and some existing customers £200 to switch your current account to them.

Halifax Regular Saver pays 5.5%

The Halifax Regular Saver pays 5.5% AER/gross on deposits between £25 and £250 a month (12 month term) and you don’t need to hold a current account with the bank to get this deal.

It can be opened online, via app, in branch and by phone. You can make a bank transfer to top up your savings and the amount you save each month can vary, just as long as the total amount of your deposits does not exceed the monthly limit of £250.The money also needs to reach your account by the 25th of each month.

If you deposit £250 every month, the balance after 12 months will be£3,082.50.

An Everyday Saver account will also be opened as part of the application. You will need to keep this account open so that Halifax can transfer your savings into it when your Regular Saver comes to the end of its term.

Nationwide Start to Save 2 account pays 5.25% interest

Nationwide has increased the interest rate on its easy access regular saver,Start to Save 2, from 5% to 5.25% for new and existing customers.

It allows deposits of up to £50 each calendar month over a two-year period. Based on depositing £25 a month over the two-year period, savers would have an estimated balance of £633.26.

Savers are also entered into a prize draw offering £250 when meeting certain criteria.

Barclays Rainy Day Saver Account pays 5.12%

Barclays Blue Rewards customers (£5 a month fee but rewards earned on direct debits, mortgage, insurance, Barclays loans etc) can apply for the instant access Rainy Day Saver.

It pays 5.12% AER/5% gross on balances up to £5,000 and 0.7% on balances above £5,000.

However, Barclays said customers won’t receive a monthly cash reward to Blue Rewards Wallet for having a Rainy Day Saver account. Existing monthly Blue Rewards aren’t affected and it will keep paying them into your Blue Rewards wallet.

Earn 5% on your savings with HSBC

TheHSBC 12-month fixed rate Regular Saveraccount pays 5% AER after being upped from 1% in December.

The rate applies on savings between £25 and £250 per month, with a lump sum being paid at the end of the term. If your regular payments are less than £250 a month, you can carry forward your allowance, paying more in later months (up to a total of £3,000). However, withdrawals within the term aren’t allowed. But you can choose to close your account early, where you’ll receive interest at the Flexible Saver rate (1.3% AER).

In total for accounts of £3,000 after 12 months, the previous £16.25 in interest would become £81.25 in interest.

Earn 5% on your savings with Chase

Chase by JPMorgan has attracted 1.6 million customers in the first 20 months since launch in September 2021. It offers 5% on round-ups – but there’s no option to add other money to the account too, as there is with NatWest and RBS.

With the Chase current account, you can choose to round-up your debit card spending to the nearest £1, where Chase will autosave the difference for you and apply 5% interest.

For example, say you made a debit card purchase for £10.60; Chase will round up the spend to £11, with the 40p added to your round-up account so you earn 5% on this 40p.

Chase will calculate your interest daily and pay it monthly. You can access and spend the money whenever you like – but if you leave it in the round-up account it will continue to earn 5% interest.

After a year, Chase will automatically transfer your round-up balance to your Chase current account, and you can start saving all over again.

Debit card round-ups are the only way to add money to the round-up account – you can’t move money to the account any other way.

There are big changes in store for new and existing Chase customers. SeeChase to pay current account interest and extend cashback perk, but there’s a catchfor more information.

Earn 5% in-credit interest with Nationwide Building Society

TheNationwide FlexDirect current account offers savers 5% AER (4.89% gross) in-credit interest.

It is available on up to £1,500 for the first 12 months, no interest is earned above this amount. After 12 months, the account pays 0.25% AER (0.24% gross) variable.

FlexDirect can be opened online or in branch and customers will need to pay in £1,000 per month which doesn’t include transfers from other Nationwide accounts or Visa credits.

TSB Monthly Saver pays 5% AER

TSBhas increased the rate on its Monthly Saver to 5% gross/AER, fixed for 12 months for those with its current account. You can save between £25 and £250 each month (only one payment allowed each month). There are no penalties for withdrawals but you can’t top up any withdrawn amounts.

Based on a £250 a month deposit, you would earn £71.31 at the end of the year.

Fixed rate bonds

If you are happy to tie your money up for longer, fixed rate bonds offer better interest rates than easy access savings accounts.

The best rate on a one-year bond is 5.25% AER via Raisin, provided by National Bank of Egypt UK Ltd. It requires an opening balance of at least £10,000 and can only be opened online.

Savers can also earn 5.25% AER on the best buy two-year bond, also via Raisin but provided by Tandem. The best rate on a three-year bond is also from the Raisin and Tandem tie-up, paying 5.30%. Both bonds have a minimum investment of £1,000.

The top-paying four-year deal pays a lower 5.07%, from United Trust Bank on a minimum £5,000. Meanwhile savers can get 5.35% on a five-year bond via Raisin, provided by Tandem (minimum £1,000).