Banks January Sales
Bank and building societies are following in the footsteps of high street retailers and have launched their "January sales", offering introductory deals to attract the 300,000 people every month who are voting with their feet and changing accounts.
Highly publicized deals include HSBC offering 25% refund on interest paid on
personal loans; Natwest offering a 30% discount on mortgage fees; and Chelsea Building Society is offering 6% cashback to customers on their
mortgage if they sign up to a 7.69% five-year fixed-rate deal.
But let the buyer beware. Experts are warning that many of these offers come with a catch and you can find better bargains outside of these "sales". For example, Natwest are offering a 50% saving on their mortgage arrangement fee, which only amounts to a saving of £200; whilst HSBC's
loan rate of 8.3% is way above average and there are better deals to be found: for example, Sainsbury's interest rate is only 6.5%. Chelsea's mortgage offer is beaten hands down by Leeds Building Society, which are offering a five-year fixed mortgage rate of 5.39% as well as lower arrangement fees.
Current account customers are the "bedrock" for banks to cross-sell products, and for this reason the likes of First Direct offer £100 for you to switch your account.
However, good deals can still be found, especially with Internet, postal or phone accounts. For example Newcastle Building Society and Bradford & Bingley are offering savings rates of 6.4% or higher. Whilst Alliance and Leicester's Premier Regular Saver account pays out 12% AER for one year only, and Abbey's Super Monthly Saver 2 account offers 10% AER if a secondary investment product is taken up. HSBC has halved its online trading fee along with cutting initial charges on Isa and Pep investment funs. Yorkshire bank has knocked £700 off the remortgage fee for customers taking up its offset mortgage, this along with a starting rate of 5.64% makes this one of the best offset deals on the market.
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