Overview

• Many banks and building societies have reduced variable savings rates unevenly since the 7 August base rate cut, with some easy-access accounts seeing trims up to 0.58 percentage points.
• Santander lowered interest on 11 savings products on 11 August and will cut base-linked rates on its Good for Life and Rate for Life accounts by 0.25 percentage points from 2 September.
• Chase’s boosted saver, which tracks the Bank of England rate minus 1.50%, resets on 14 August to an AER of 2.50%.
• NatWest and RBS will cut Digital Regular Saver and Flexible Saver rates from 1.15% to around 1.06% on 28 August, prompting warnings to switch before the reductions take effect.
• Personal finance experts recommend shoppers compare fixed-rate bonds, regular-saver accounts and challenger bank offers such as Nationwide’s 6.5% Flex Regular Saver to protect real returns.