Many accounts have a lack of interest

Nearly two thirds of savings accounts that were available six years ago now pay interest of 0.1 per cent or less, a consumer group warned.

Around 87 per cent of accounts that were around in 2005 currently pay returns of up to only 0.5 per cent, while 62 per cent pay 0.1 per cent or lower, according to Which? Money. But despite the low returns typically on offer, 35 per cent of savers admit they have money sitting in accounts that they opened at least six years ago.

The group pointed out those holding money in an account paying 0.1 per cent would earn just 10p in interest each year for every 100 they held, compared with 2.90 if they opted for a best-buy instant access account paying returns of 2.9 per cent.

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It has launched a Savings Booster tool to help consumers find out what interest rate they are paying on a savings account by entering the name of the account and the provider offering it. The tool also tells people if they could get a better rate elsewhere.

Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive of Which?, said: "All too often, banks and building societies lure in savers with attractive rates of interest, then reward their loyalty by quietly slashing rates to a paltry level later on."

The booster is at www.which.co.uk/savingsbooster

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