Northern Rock has launched a new 90-day notice branch-based account paying 2.5% interest on balances from £1. The account beats the branch-based accounts on offer from other big banks, says Patrick Collinson in The Guardian. Halifax pays 1.5% for the first year on its Guaranteed Saver Reward account, but that drops to 0.5% after a year.
But you could do better with United National Bank’s branch-based notice account, which pays 3.02%. For the best returns you should look at internet-only accounts. Their rates tend to be higher as the running costs are lower.
• Cash is going out of fashion. We are increasingly using cards to pay for things instead. A report from the Payments Council has shown that while 60% of transactions still involve cash, eight in ten of those are for amounts under £10. The Payments council anticipates that by 2015 cash will be used in under half of all transactions.
• Bad news for anyone with a student loan. The interest rate on such loans is based on March’s Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation figure. Since September – when the rate changes each year – this has meant a rate of 0%, due to last March’s deflationary figure. But last month’s RPI was 4.4%, which could mean a big hike in interest rates in September.
There is hope though. Loans taken out since 1998 are meant to pay a rate of interest that is based on the lower rate of either March’s RPI figure (4.4%), or the base rate of a range of banks plus 1% (currently 1.5%). So hopefully the rate will only go up to around 1.5%, but the government won’t confirm that until August. Either way, interest rates on student loans are going up.
• Get 30% off at Gap. Simply visit Gapcorporateinvite.com and register your details and you’ll get a voucher for 30% off. Sadly, such a good deal comes with plenty of terms and conditions. You can’t use the voucher on Product (RED) items; leather goods; 100% cashmere products; Gap Design Editions; babyGap Home, or gift cards. But if you are just looking to buy standard clothes, make use of this voucher until Sunday 2 May.