10 November 2008
Following last week's 1.5% cut in interest rates, current account providers have been reducing their own in-credit rates, according to analysis by uSwitch.com.
The independent price comparison and switching service found that six banks and building societies have cut in-credit rates by up to 0.99% since the Bank of England's announcement.
Intelligent Finance made the biggest reductions, while Nationwide Building Society, Halifax, Coventry Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society and Lloyds TSB also introduced cuts.
Louise Bond, Personal Finance Manager at uSwitch.com, said one could be forgiven for thinking that current account providers wanted these moves to slip by unnoticed while attention was focused on borrowing costs and the decisions banks were taking on mortgage rates.
"Historically, credit current account interest rates have been rather pitiful, and many of the big banks still offer as little as 0.1%. Unfortunately, with increasing consolidation in the banking sector, potentially resulting in a reduction in the number of competitive products available, consumers must act now to seek out the best deals," she remarked.
The Bank of England's monetary policy committee cut the base rate to 3% last week - its lowest level since 1955.