5% Easy-Access Is Back! UK Savings Rates Update - May 2026

In this episode of Banking Without Borders, we cover the May 2026 savings rate update — breaking down where UK savers can earn the highest interest right now, what the Bank of England's latest decision means for rates, and which accounts look better than they actually are.

• Bank of England holds base rate at 3.75% — eight to one vote, with one member pushing for a hike to 4%
• Why the Middle East conflict has changed the rate outlook for 2026 and what that means for savers
• Current account switch bonuses worth up to £500 from HSBC, First Direct, Barclays and Santander — with deadlines coming up fast
• Easy access savings topping 5% from LemFi — including a walkthrough of the account opening process, the ClearBank FSCS nuance, and the six-month rate cliff
• Best easy access rates from Tembo, Chase, Cynergy Bank, Hanley Economic BS and Charter Savings Bank
• Cash ISAs — flexible vs non-flexible explained, bonus cliff warnings on Trading 212, Plum and Tembo, and why the £20k allowance matters more than ever before it drops in 2027
• Fixed rate bonds from Chetwood Bank, Kent Reliance and GB Bank — and why the tiny gap between one-year and five-year rates tells you something important about market expectations
• Notice accounts — when they make sense and when easy access is simply better
• Regular savers — why 7.1% headline rates are more misleading than they look, and the actual best picks from First Direct, Club Lloyds and Monmouthshire BS

All accounts mentioned are available to compare at DepositScout.com

Check out our website DepositScout.com for the latest savings rates. 

Connect with us (via LinkedIn)

Jan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-watermann/

Jonny: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonny-pease

Got a question or topic you want us to cover? Drop us a message at jonny@technicallymoney.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Okay, welcome back to your savings rate update for the month of May. So last Wednesday, the Bank of England met and decided to hold the base rate at 3.75%. The vote was 8 to 1, and the one dissenting member actually voted to increase rates to 4%, not cut them. The reason for all of this is the Middle East conflict. Before the Iran war, markets were pricing in two cuts this year. That's completely off the table now. Inflation hit 3.3% in March, well above the 2% target, and the BOE is projecting it'll stay elevated through Q3 and actually rise further in Q4 as higher energy costs feed through to bills and food prices. What that means for savers is genuinely good news, at least in the short term. Rates that were expected to fall are holding, and nobody really knows what will happen at the next meeting in June. It could be another hold, it could even be a hike. So right now is one of the better windows we've had to lock in a decent rate. Easy access accounts are topping 5%, fixed rates are hitting 4.7%, there are switch bonuses worth hundreds of pounds with deadlines coming up fast. And we're also going to look at one account advertising 7.1% and explain exactly why that number is more complicated than it sounds. And before we jump in, all of the accounts mentioned today are available on depositscout.com. There you can filter by account type, see the full details, compare rates properly, and we've also just launched rate history graphs so you can see how a product's rate has moved over time, whether a provider has been stable or has a habit of cutting rates quickly after launch. We'll put a link to depositscout.com in the description box below. So Jan, should we just quickly cover switch offers?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Up to 500 pounds you can get, Johnny, by switching to HSBC Premium. That's the biggest switch offer on the market right now. One catch though, um you have to deposit at least 100,000 pounds into HSBC within 90 days in order to get that. Um in case you don't have that much money, um, there's still good options out there. We got First Direct, 175 pounds, Santander, 180 pounds, Barclays, 200 pounds, which is pretty pretty compelling, yeah. And if you're from Northern Ireland, you can get up to 200 pounds of AIB. All of these are also available on depositscout.com, and we're gonna put a link in the description box. So if you're interested, feel free to take a look and sign up from there.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

One of the big questions people ask when it comes to savings is where can I put my money in a place that's gonna be easy to access? That's the first one we're gonna start with today: easy access accounts. Um, rates of this tier are genuinely so competitive, Jan. Some of them do have strings attached. And I'm gonna start with the headline rate, the biggest rate. This one is very new, Lemfi. And I'll talk about what that is shortly, but I'll give you the high-level details. You can get 5% for the first six months of depositing money into this account. Wow. That is significant. That is a, you know, online with Chase UK uh a couple years ago when they were offering 5% before the rate started to cut. That rate is made up of a 3.04% tracker rate plus a 1.6, sorry, 1.96% bonus for six months. After six months, the rate drops to 3.04%. We'll talk about other rates that are available right now, but that is far below most rates. So it's really important with this account that you're putting in a reminder into your diary for about five months after opening it. So you've got a bit of time to find the next account for you because it there is a sharp cliff edge after six months. Yeah, and you may have heard of Lem5 because I know you're quite deeply entrenched into the money transfer market, but this is a platform for international money transfer, Yan. And the savings product actually comes second. And for those that are watching, I did sign up for this account and I went through the process. I did the KYC checks and I opened the account and I'll put it up on the screen so you can look at the process and you can see the dashboard. It was super simple, Yan, to open this account. It took like 10 minutes. There was a little bit of a delay while they registered the savings account. So initially, after I signed up, I couldn't actually find the savings account in the dashboard, but that eventually updated, I think maybe because because the KYC checks were authorized. I was verified. But what's important to know is although this is a money transfer platform, this savings account is FSCS protected through Clearbank. So you still get deposit protection up to 120,000 yen. And although there's something important to note, this is very worth checking because it's with Clearbank. If you're running any other apps that are using Clearbank as well, your deposit is inclusive of those other apps, right? Your deposit protection. Sorry. For example, I believe Revolute have some Clearbank uh savings accounts available. So if you we deposited money on there through Clearbank, that would already be chipped away at your deposit protection total. So that's something to factor in. I don't see any problems with this one.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Um six months maybe. That could that could be that could be a problem. Yeah, it can be timed well, right? You can you can just set yourself an alarm. The only thing is, exactly um within within five or six months, you think the interest rates are gonna be um similarly competitive than they are right now, are gonna be lower, uh, most likely gonna be on a on the same level now that you just said that the Bank of England decided to to waive these two base um two base rate cuts.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Potentially.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Potentially, yeah. Um so there's not much to to say against that. But I do I do understand if people say hey, they wanna they wanna sign up for 12 months and then forget about it, um, and then not worry again uh within a short period of time. So that makes that makes a lot of sense. And if you're one of those people, uh there's a tempo home saver with 4.75%. That includes a 12 month bonus. Um only issue here uh max deposit is 25,000 pounds. You can get also up to 5.75% if you decide to take out a mortgage with Tembo. Um can be interesting if you're a first-time buyer. Um General Tembo is a pretty pretty good platform. Had a look myself and um do like the design, do like how they they present everything, all the information are clearly accessible, it's super easy to use, so that's that's a really, really good option here with up to 5.75%. Chase UK, 4.5 percent. Yeah, new customers only, it's also a 12-month bonus, so that's pretty good. You got Synergy Bank with 4.27%, that includes a 2% 12-month bonus. Here, the issue is that it reverts to 2.27% after these 12 months, so you really have to put up a reminder. We got Hanley Economics, Building Society, 4.27%. There's no bonus at all. So this is a genuine rate, which is really competitive, and I like that. I like the fact that they're so simple and transparent about it. Only downside here, maximum two withdrawals per year. Next one is Charter Savings Bank, 4.16%. There's no bonus at all, but at a rate, it's not as competitive as as Timbo's, Chase's, or any of the other banks.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

No, but it is nice, isn't it? It is no caveats on that one, just unlimited withdrawals, no bonus. Some people might prefer that if they don't want to have the the pressure or the necessity to like diarize when to when to check for another account.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, exactly. I I do let me let me say this right now. Um kind of jealous. And I I I I I repeat myself, I literally said that in the last episode as well. Um I'm kind of jealous looking at these savings rates. So it's really a good time to be a UK saver. Um you should definitely take advantage of this um and sign up for one of these accounts. It is. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

It is, Jan is absolutely right. It's so competitive right now. There's a bit of a savings rates arm race, yeah, arms race happening, isn't there, in the industry? And some of these percentage points are actually quite closely aligned. You'll see that shortly when we talk about the fixes. There are some really closely aligned percentage rates, and they keep notching them up by like 0.1 basis points, which tells me that there's a bit of an arms race happening. Same can be said about cash ICEs as well, Jan. We've just gone into a new tax year. I'm sure you're already aware of that, but that means that it the ICEs are very competitive right now. Banks, providers, building societies, they are competing hard to earn your deposits. Trading 212, the headline rate of the moment for a number of reasons. It's a flexible ICER. It includes a 12-month bonus, but it's 4.51%. That's the headline rate. That's pretty good. It's easy access as well. You do it via the app, super simple to sign up for. Plum also have 4.31%, another provider that like to chop and change the rates. But there is a big bonus component on that one as well, and it drops to 2.54% after 12 months. And also transfer rates, Yan for Plum transfer in rates are 4.08%. So if you transfer in from one ISAP provider to another, you only get 4.08%. That's something to consider.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Let me let me just ask one question that people will definitely have on their mind right now. Um, last month we've talked about Plum. I think it was 4.61%. So they've they've dropped this to 4.3%. What if you signed up last month, took advantage of that 4.6%? Um, do you have that secured for 12 months now, or is that variable, or did that drop to 4.31% as well?

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Good question. So my understanding of this is that the rate is variable. We can confirm that. If you have the rate, if you're like an existing plum customer and you have the rate, that won't change based on whatever they're advertising. You'll get a message about that specifically. And I have this plum cash ISA and it hasn't changed.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Do you still got these 4.61%?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Yes, I do, but it's actually 4.66%.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Let's talk about the fixed cash ISA. We got skipped an 18-month, 4.55%, and it's probably the top pick at the moment. We got Close Brothers, two-year, 4.53%. HSBC has a one-year fixed cash ISA with 4.5%. Um, that requires an existing HSBC current account. So if you don't have one, you have to open it up. I think I can say that, Johnny, it's probably the best fixed one-year cash ISA at the moment from a high street name. We also got nationwide um with a one-year cash ISA at 4.35% flexible. Excellent choice, but not as good as HSBC.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

No, no, but the high street are definitely catching up. Even NatWest have released some new ICEs that are available. 4.4% that's not on the table. And look, HSBC's 4.5% is actually above the advertised UK average of I think 4.31%. Hate to keep plugging depositscout.com, but if you go on our savings rate tracker, you'll see that we're pulling data from the Bank of England now and we can show you how these rates compare to the average advertised UK rate. And I think that's important context, Yan, for people that want to know exactly how good a rate is that they're looking at. And I think that tells you a lot about HSBC, that tells you a lot about trading 212. They are pushing a little harder to get your deposit, and they're offering you something a little bit better than the average. Let's look at fixed rate savings accounts now, Yan, and it's just again the same old story. Super, super competitive.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Insane.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

So the top picks, I know it's crazy, isn't it? Six months, Chetwood Bank are offering 4.25%. That's a top pick for a short commitment. Then we have a one-year Kent Reliance, one year of 4.67%. There's a thousand pound deposit minimum on that. 18 months now, Chetwood Bank, 4.7%. That is the highest rate across all terms that are available right now. It's paid at maturity. Three years, Kent Reliance, 4.66%. And then five years, GB Bank are offering 4.7%. Wow. Which is the joint top rate. And it just so happens to be the joint rate with 18 months, Yan. Absolutely insane. Five years and 18 months are even. I mean, the difference between one year and five year rates is ridiculous now. I mean, this signals, okay, that the market doesn't expect rates to rise much. This isn't financial advice, but that 18 month from Chetwood at 4.7% seems very compelling. A nice compromise, Jan, between easy and fixed are notice accounts, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:46

So we got uh Stafford Building Society, 180-day notice account with 4.26%. Oxbury Bank 90 day um at 4.17% uh 4.18%. Sorry for that. Oak North 95 day at 4.12%, and Oxbury Bank with a 35-day notice at 4.16%. Not bad, right? But compare them to the easy access accounts that are available right now, or compare them to the to the cash is that are available right now, or compare them to the fixed accounts, even. I don't really see the point for notice accounts anymore.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Difficult to justify, isn't it? Usually you'd say, you know, these are useful if you need money, but you don't know exactly when you'll need it, like a savings, uh like a deposit on a house or something. Yeah, but honestly, Johnny. I know what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Just open up an easy easy access account, right? Easy access cash ISO, uh depending on yeah. I mean, you can just do that, right? Just just open up an easy access account and uh take out the money whenever you need a tempo home saver, 4.75%. Wow, it's way better than whatever we have here. Um super competitive. So just yeah, just just just don't open up an Otis account, please do me that favor.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

No, that's up to you. I mean that that's not financial advice, no.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

No, absolutely not. It's not financial advice. You make your own decisions, but yeah, I would recommend against that. Is it advice if I recommend something? Well, probably we don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah, I think we have to tread lightly. I think there is actually a fine line between like commentary and advice. Like I think just giving your opinion is important, but also you can't be too directive about the way you say things.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, absolutely. Now you've learned about my opinion. Yeah. Do whatever you want with it.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

We have our own opinion when it comes to regular savers. Some of these can be super compelling, but also you have to be a bit careful because some of the rates are quite misleading. Is OPA's 7.1%. That is the highest headline rate on the market right now, but it only runs for six months. So the total interest you could roughly earn on that would be 36 pounds. 36 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Okay, I think that's a great illustration of why the headline rate can mean nothing without context. Santander's Edge Saver is a big one, Yan, that comes up quite often. It looks like a regular saver though, but it's actually a maximum balance account. It has a £4,000 total cap, um, but it's not got a monthly deposit limit. But the actual best picks when it comes to the regular savers is First Direct 7%, which is fixed for 12 months. This is the cleanest full year top rate. You're guaranteed that interest rate for a whole year. Club Lloyd's has a 6.25% fixed regular saver. Again, this is probably the best overall package, has the highest monthly cap at 400 pounds, allows withdrawals, you get a lifestyle perk on top. You know, the fee is waived if you pay 2,000 pounds a month into it. And if you max out that 400 pounds a month, the interest on that could be 162 pounds annually. Pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good. One other account, Monmouthshire Building Society, it's 6%. This is the best open to all option. You know, it's fee-free. You don't need an existing account. I can pay up to £500 a month over 12 months, and if you max that out, you'll earn £195 in interest across the year on £6,000 total. Deposited. Solid. I think Lloyd's is the best all-round package, but Mom and Share, if you don't want to open a new current account, is a great choice.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Yeah, and all of these accounts you'll find them on deposit scout.com, as usual. Um, definitely worth checking out. And next MPC meeting is June eighteenth, I believe. Um and we'll be covering what it means for for rates. And um, yeah, as soon as we we know about the decision, we'll let you know. It's been a pleasure as always, and uh see you in the next episode.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Yeah, thank you, everybody.