Articles -> Money Matters

Is your money working for you?

Many thousands of people in the UK are effectively throwing money away by not bothering to shop around for the best deals in terms of their current and savings accounts. You may think that the differences between the banks are minimal, especially when compared to the hassle of changing, but the fact is that you could be missing out on as much as four percent interest on your savings, and being charged twelve percent more than you need to be paying on your overdraft.

Making your money work hard for you can see significant rewards, for example most current accounts offer only 0.1 percent interest, while a good savings account will offer around five percent – a huge difference that will see you earning far more from your money.

At the other end of the spectrum, for those more likely to be in the red than the black there is an even bigger reward for making the effort to put your money in the right place. The differences in the charges for overdrafts vary a great deal between banks, and you could lower your charges as much as twelve percent, and on some introductory offers you could find yourself with an interest-free overdraft. You may think that if you only have a debt to move that you won’t be accepted for a new account with another bank, but this is not the case, the banking sector is very competitive and so banks will accept applications in such cases.

Moving to a different account is not a difficult as you may think, as banks now have agreements in place with regards to exchanging customer details and direct debits allowing a switch to be made within a few days, making for minimal disruption to the customer.

Whether you have a sum of money sitting there not earning you much, or an overdraft costing you a lot, taking the time to find an account that will provide the most cost-effective solution for you finances can see you reap significant rewards.