Usually the best place to put you money in the UK is in a tax free ISA as these have good interest rates and you don’t have to pay tax on them. If you have already filled your ISA allowance or have another reason for not using on then you will want to use an alternative high interest saving account. There is no point leaving it in your current account earning hardly any interest at all. There are lots of different high interest savings accounts available and the main thing to consider is the interest rate. You should also check what access there is as some require you to tie up the money for a certain period of time. Others may have requirements for the amount than can be invested.

A number of providers are offering very high rates subject to a number of conditions. These may look like a good deal but be sure you fully understand them fully before signing up. HSBC are heavily advertising an 8% interest bank account which sounds great but if you look at it more closely it isn’t such a good offer. There is a monthly fee attached to the account, the special rate only applies for the first year and it only applies to balances of up to £1000. This may be good for some people but it definitely isn’t ideal to use as a savings account.

A couple of providers tend to always have a fairly good rates, these are Abbey and Alliance & Leicester. You should have a look at the whole market though before you pick your high interest savings account. A good place to start is Money Supermarket’s savings section where you can compare a big selection of different accounts and match them against the criteria that are important to you.

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