New measures will make switching easier

Many savers forego a higher interest rate due to the perceived hassle of switching accounts. Sarah Moore explains how that's set to change.

In our era of record-low interest rates, choosing a savings account can feel like picking the best of a bad bunch.You wouldn't think that a name would make that much difference (you might assume that the interest rate on offer was far more important), and yet a recent episode of Channel 4's documentary Dispatches highlighted that consumers are easily drawn to savings account names featuring the words "Gold", "Platinum" and "Select" even if these accounts only offer attractive interest rates for a short period.

Halifax's Liquid Gold account is one good example advertised in the late 1980s by the late George Cole as a "nice little earner" (back then the account was offered by the Leeds Building Society, which Halifax took over in 1995), the once 10% interest rate has dwindled to a mere 0.1% for existing customers.

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Sarah is MoneyWeek's investment editor. She graduated from the University of Southampton with a BA in English and History, before going on to complete a graduate diploma in law at the College of Law in Guildford. She joined MoneyWeek in 2014 and writes on funds, personal finance, pensions and property.