Are building societies and banks playing fair with savers?

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, Business, Investing, News

4.1 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Interest rates went up last month and banks and building societies have been busy upping mortgage rates, with Nationwide revealing a raft of rises this week.

But while Britain’s biggest society has got off the mark with mortgage rate rises – reflecting December’s Bank of England hike and money market expectations of another move up potentially as early as February – its savings rates remain on the floor.

The best easy access savings deal open to all from Nationwide pays just 0.01 per cent and the top no-strings easy access deal offered as a reward to the building society’s own members pays 0.35 per cent.

Nationwide isn’t alone, almost all its big building society and banking rivals have also been failing savers for years – and although they blame the low interest rate environment that doesn’t stop them making bumper profits and paying out blockbuster wages to top executives.

So, are they diddling savers or do they have any defence?

On this week’s podcast, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert look at how and why banks and building societies have failed to meaningfully help savers ever since the financial crisis – and whether there is any hope that things will change?

They also discuss what savers can do about it and why an investment expert recommends savers think in three pots to help them cautiously invest for better returns.

Also on this week’s podcast, why buy-to-let investors don’t want to be called landlords any more, how to maximise Avios as we enter a potential sweet spot for picking them up, and how to get a pay rise this year.

And finally, what does the Fiesta being knocked out of the list of the best-selling cars tell us about the topsy-turvy pandemic inflation economy? A lot more than you might think, Simon explains.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to This Is Money podcast. I'm Georgie Frost and joining me and editor Simon Lamb today is Deputy Editor Lee Boyce and a very happy New Year. But is it though? As banks hike mortgage rates and leave savers in the lurch, it's been weak since the base rate hike, but easy access deals remain at rock bottom. Have banks abandoned savers, but are better times ahead in
0:22.7	2022. Also today, don't call us landlords. More chances to bag avios points. What Pips Tesla, as Britain's
0:30.8	favourite car, and looking to change careers this year, we reveal the top paying jobs and how to land
0:36.8	them. Don't forget, you
0:37.7	stay up to date with all the latest breaking money news. Just go to this ismoney.com.uk
0:42.3	or download the app. But first, a happy new year. Very quickly, Lee and Simon, New Year's resolutions,
0:49.2	anybody? Lee, how's it going? Yeah, my new year's resolution, Georgie, was to not waive at the end of Zoom meetings that we have.
0:57.7	Very good resolution.
0:59.4	You wouldn't wave in a normal meeting and say goodbye to people.
1:02.8	But unfortunately, I did it by default yesterday.
1:06.1	So six days in, yeah, I broke my New Year's resolution, unfortunately.
1:10.1	I don't think you've ever waived to me in the Zoom meeting, Lee, but I won't take it personally.
1:13.8	Simon?
1:14.5	Not really a great one for New Year's resolutions, in all honesty.
1:18.3	However, I guess if I was going to come up with them, I thought about maybe not procrastinating.
1:23.8	Procrastination is the enemy of many things, and it's a definite enemy of mine which combined
1:30.7	with my innate distractibility it can cause problems so I'd like to stop procrastinating and just
1:37.4	do it just do stuff all right so just do it I really thought about it to be honest until I just
1:43.7	asked you now so I've got nothing to, to be honest, until I just asked you now.
1:44.5	So I've got nothing to add to this conversation.
1:47.3	Well, don't procrastinate, George. You come up with a New Year's resolution right now.
1:51.1	Read more. Read more actual books.
	...

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