2 February 2007
Interest rate rises aren't always bad news, as Halifax has proven this week by announcing that its high-interest current account customers will benefit from the Bank of England's decision to raise the base rate as soon as February 5th.
Both new and current customers will profit from the bank's decision to offer 6% gross – or 6.17 per cent AER - on the account. In addition, Halifax has promised to give £100 to anyone who chooses to switch to any of the bank's current accounts.
Paul Marriot-Clarke, Head of Banking at Halifax, said: "We have consistently attacked the big four banks and we will keep that pressure up.
"There is no reason to accept a poor rate from your bank if you could be earning 60 times more interest with Halifax. Switching banks has never been easier or more profitable."
Currently, HSBC, NatWest/RBS and Barclays pay as little as 0.10% interest on some of their current accounts, while Lloyds TSB's Classic Plus account yields a paltry 3.93%.
These figures led Halifax to declare that the 28 million current account customers of the Big Four high street banks could be losing as much as £1 billion collectively every year in lost interest.
There are a couple of snags however; in order to gain the top rate of interest, customers must put at least £1,000 into the account each month and those who become overdrawn can be seriously punished as Halifax's overdraft interest rate is 15.9% - well above average according to Reuters.
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