For the best savings rates you can find now, forget the high street banks

With interest rates close to zero, finding a decent return on your savings is nearly impossible.“A decade ago... the average instant-access savings account paid 0.79%,” says Laura Shannon in The Mail on Sunday. “Today, high-street banks are disgracefully paying just 0.01% on such accounts – equivalent to a tenth of the Bank of England’s base rate of 0.1%.”

However, there are better rates available. “Don’t deposit your money with high-street banks – there are better rate elsewhere. Although you might need to choose a brand name you’ve not heard of before, you can do so safely,” says Anna Bowes, co-founder of Savings Champion.

For example, the best one-year bonds pay 1% or more and are offered by Tandem, Zopa Bank, OakNorth Bank and United Trust Bank. You can earn 1% on a 35-day notice account from Pakistani bank UBL. The account can be opened in person or by post with as little as £1. Al Rayan Bank and BLME are Shariah-compliant banks offering the best long-term fixed rate bonds: 1.42% and 1.5% on three and five-year terms respectively.

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For the best instant-access savings look at app-based Atom Bank, which is paying 075%. Deposits in all of these accounts are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per person.

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Ruth Jackson-Kirby is a freelance personal finance journalist with 17 years’ experience, writing about everything from savings accounts and credit cards to pensions, property and pet insurance.