The savings war has intensified so strongly that some challenger banks are now tinkering with best buy rates on a near daily basis, This is Money analysis shows.
Since 1 June, SmartSave has changed the rate on its one-year fix 14 times in a bid to stay ahead of competitors.
By boosting the rate on average every other day has seen it offer 5.16 pc at the start of the month to 5.86 pc today – 0.7 percentage point boost.
Prolific: Since 1 June, SmartSave Bank has changed the rate on its one-year fix 14 times in a bid to stay ahead of competitors (pictured, Thierry Henry in his iconic 14 Arsenal shirt)
In one extraordinary 30 hour period on 13 and 14 June, SmartSave repriced the rate four times just to stay competitive.
Other banks have also been busy repricing. OakNorth Bank has made seven hikes in June, Close Brothers six and Oxbury Bank has upped its rates four times.
James Blower, of Savings Guru, says constant rate changing is a sign some banks struggle to attract savers.
‘It’s a fast moving market and SmartSave have made the most changes indicating an inability to attract savers unless they offer a best buy.
‘Savers don’t like the inability to contact SmartSave by phone and are reluctant unless they’re offering the highest rate.’
At the beginning of the month, the overall best one-year fix paid 5.25 per cent. Today the best deal pays 5.86 per cent.
Over 12 months, it means a saver has missed out on £61 of annual interest on a pot of £10,000 if they opened a best buy short-term fix at the start of June rather than today.
| Date | Rate increased to |
|---|---|
| 01/06/2023 | 5.16% |
| 05/06/2023 | 5.26% |
| 09/06/2023 | 5.31% |
| 13/06/2023 (10.30am) | 5.36% |
| 13/06/2023 (3.40pm) | 5.38% |
| 14/06/2023 (10.30am) | 5.41% |
| 14/06/2023 (5pm) | 5.43% |
| 16/06/2023 | 5.52% |
| 20/06/2023 | 5.56% |
| 21/06/2023 | 5.57% |
| 22/06/2023 | 5.71% |
| 23/06/2023 | 5.76% |
| 26/06/2023 (10.45am) | 5.77% |
| 26/06/2023 (5pm) | 5.79% |
| 27/06/2023 | 5.86% |
| Credit: Savings Champion |
Anna Bowes, co-founder of Savings Champion, says: ‘It’s great news there are several providers competing to top best buy tables.
‘It’s helping push rates to extraordinary levels, especially over the shorter term.’
SmartSave is a trading name of Chetwood Financial Limited, who are a UK licensed bank based in Wrexham.
It lends its money to customers via what it calls ‘dynamic loans’ which adapts the rate as their credit scores improve.
As of March 2021, it held £160million in deposits with a loan book of £182million, according to The Savings Guru.
Savers wishing to open an account with SmartSave will need to do so online as it does not have any branches.
Andy Mielczarek, founder and chief executive of SmartSave, said: ‘We constantly assess changes in the market.
‘In an economy where interest rates are rising and inflation is running high, it’s important for us to be able to react quickly to ensure we’re offering the most competitive savings rates to our customers.
‘Fortunately, our technology enables us to do this at speed.’
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