Money Central - Times Online - WBLG

Where to spread your eggs...

Savers looking for good returns on their cash are spoilt for choice at the moment, as banks desperately try to build up their reserves after the damaging effects of the credit crunch.

When should your savings rate rise?

Is it just me, or do you expect your savings rates to go up if there is an increase in the Bank rate? I think my savings rate should go up, just as I accept my mortgage rate will go up. Similarly, if the Bank rate is cut, I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of interest I earn on my savings to goes down. However, it appears as though not all banks and building societies think in the same way.

Keeping your bank in check

Banks and building societies have the ability to annoy customers like few other companies, so it is worrying that question marks are being raised over the voluntary code of practice that is supposed to set standards for the industry.

Is it time to dump your savings account?

The way banks and building societies have responded to last month's interest rate rise reaffirms one thing - do not be loyal to your bank, because it will not be loyal to you.

Time for a fair deal on savings

Banks and building societies are falling over themselves to offer amazing rates of interest on savings.

ING - please don't insult our intelligence

ING Direct, the Dutch Bank, which launched its UK savings account amid a huge fanfare in 2003 appears to be trying to mislead customers about the current competitiveness of the account.

Ed Balls' dance of the seven veils

The Government is doing a dance of the seven veils over its plans to overhaul Individual Savings Accounts (Isas).

Baby's First Isa

This is a historic day. Having worked on Times Money for two years, I finally feel far enough away from the squalid, hand-to-mouth student days to actually practice what I preach. I have applied for my first  mini cash Isa, having just about enough in my savings pot to make it worthwhile.

Do you have a Jekyll and Hyde-type instinct?

More than 12 million of us are Jekyll and Hydes when it comes to savings and debt according to new research from Axa, an insurer.

The Mr Hyde in us is lured by the attraction of easily available credit, which funds a buy now, pay later lifestyle. And then rather than using our spare cash to pay down our debt each month, the Dr Jekyll instinct has us squirreling it into a savings account.

Why the banks are letting us down

The banks are raking in record profits but it seems that they still have a lot to learn when it comes to basic customer service.

Why I stick with Barclays

I must hold my hand up and admit that I have signed up for the new 10% regular savings account from Barclays. This is a difficult admission to make because the deal has been almost universally criticised since its launch last month, but this is my chance to defend myself.

Use it, or lose it

If you have not taken out an Isa yet this tax year, you have less than a month to do so. Anyone who hasn't opened an Isa by midnight on April 5 will lose their 2005-2006 tax-free allowance and effectively be pouring money down the drain.

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be"

Asking any of my family members or friends for financial advice would be like asking a vegetarian for  whether to go for beef or lamb: I just wouldn't do it. But apparently, 71 per cent of the British population do not share my doubts, for they admitted in a new survey by Alliance & Leicester that this would their first port of call - if they chose to seek any advice whatsoever...

Cahoot's money problems

Cahoot’s savings account may be near the top of the best-buy tables but there are flaws in its money transfer system that could potentially cost you hundreds of pounds in lost interest.

Compare and save

Times Online has today launched an independent product comparison service listing the best-buy deals on mortgages, savings accounts, loans and credit cards

Resolve to boost your savings in 2006

Four in five people expect their family finances this year to be as good or better than they were in 2005, according to a survey for the Nationwide.

Poor savings

Do you know how much interest your money must earn to beat the effects of tax and inflation? The banks who offer savings accounts clearly do not

Banks must speed up cheque clearance

The Office of Fair Trading is widely expected to force Britain’s banks to sharpen up their cheque clearance systems once its investigation into the process comes to an end next year. One of the aims of the investigation is to find out whether consumers and businesses want cheque clearance, which can take up to five working days, to be speeded up. But I could answer that question here and now.

Alliance & Leicester shuns existing customers

Alliance & Leicester has announced plans to launch a market-leading regular savings account paying 10% for 12 months.

However, the “special offer” is only available to new customers who open either an A&L Premier or an A&L Premier Direct current account and the former building society has unsurprisingly come under fire for refusing existing current-account customers access to the deal.