The news for savers keeps getting worse. Analysis for BBC News shows that interest rates for savers have fallen to new record lows, after hundreds of cuts in recent months and more than 1,000 in the past year.
Savings rates plummeted after the Bank of England cut the base rate during the financial crisis. Now ISAs, fixed rate bonds and easy access accounts are all at or near their lowest points. In research carried out for the BBC, the rate-checking firm Savings Champion recorded 1,440 savings rate cuts last year and more than 230 so far this year. Thisismoney.co.uk reports that households with energy supplied by one of the big six providers are collectively paying £4 billion more every year than they need to by staying on a default tariff rather than switching to a cheaper alternative. According to research from energy company First Utility, this has increased 25 per cent from £3.4 billion, or £234 per household, in 2015.The website also reports that demand for homes declined for the first time in over a year in April as many brought forward their purchases in March to beat a stamp duty hike.
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