More than half of UK savings accounts pay less than 1% interest
It has been revealed that more than 50% of savings accounts in the UK are currently paying less than 1% interest with more and more actually paying 0% to their customers. This perfectly illustrates the serious situation which many savers in the UK are experiencing having had their incomes substantially slashed as UK base rates fell from 5% to the current rate of 1%. Even though Mervyn King, the Gov of the Bank of England, has suggested that base rates will rise again once the economy starts to improve, there is no timescale on this eventual outcome.
In the meantime those UK savers who had depended upon their interest to get by in everyday life are having to dig into their "nest eggs" which will severely hamper their long-term financial health. In many cases we are talking about the older generation who have spent years building up their substantial savings only to see them taken away with substantial increases in energy costs and everyday living expenses.
Despite a number of promises from the authorities there have been no tax incentives, no respite for savers and nothing appears to be on the immediate horizon. In many ways UK savers are the forgotten section of the UK population as taxpayers money is aimed at the finance sector with substantial bailouts for many of the U.K.'s leading banks.
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