RaboDirect has announced a number of new cuts to savings rates, just a week after KBC made a range of cuts and a few weeks after Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB did the same.
Since savings rates have been at a low for quite some time, it’s amazing the banks are still finding ways to cut them further.
Well, today RaboDirect joins KBC, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB as the fourth bank to cut rates in the space of a few weeks.
RaboDirect’s rate cuts
On-demand savings accounts:
If you have an on-demand savings account with between €0 and €50,000 on deposit, your rate of return will fall from 0.40% to 0.20% as of today, August 1st.
Similarly, if you have an on-demand savings account with between €50,000 and €5,000,000 on deposit, your rate of return will fall from 0.20% to 0.10%.
Finally, if you have an on-demand savings account with over five million on deposit, your rate of return will stay at its current level, which is 0.00%.
Notice Saver 30 days accounts:
Notice saver accounts aren’t safe either.
If you have a 30 day notice saver account with up to one million euro on deposit your rate of return will fall from 0.25% to 0.15% today.
Don’t worry though, if you’ve got the same type of account but with over one million on deposit, your sad rate of 0.00% will stay that way.
Hey, at least it can’t go into negative figures!
Notice Saver 90 days accounts:
The last rate to be cut is the one million euro and under 90 day notice saver account. If you hold such an account, expect your rate of return to have fallen by 0.10% today. The rate fell from 0.35% to 0.25%.
As with the 30 day saver account, if you have over one million euro in your 90 day saver account, you’ll see no rate change from your usual 0.00% rate of return.
Summer cuts
Since the beginning of July, KBC, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB also announced further cuts to the rates on certain accounts.
Last week, 0.5% cuts were made to a number of KBC accounts.
Permanent TSB shaved another 0.15% off the return being offered to consumers who want to lock more than €5,000 away for a year. The rate on the bank’s 1-year fixed rate deposit account now stands at 0.60%.
At this new rate, locking €10,000 away for a year will give you €60 back in interest. before DIRT. And once DIRT, which stands at 39%, is taken out, you’ll be left with just €36.60.
A week before Permanent TSB’s cut, Bank of Ireland cut its 12-month fixed deposit rate from 0.25% to 0.20%, which would yield around €12 after DIRT on a €10,000 deposit.
How long is this trend going to continue?
As we explored in our article about KBC’s cuts last week; AIB, Bank of Ireland, EBS, KBC, RaboDirect and Ulster Bank have all cut rates on at least one savings account so far this year, and in April, Nationwide UK decided to depart the Irish market altogether.
This has left consumers feeling increasingly frustrated by the lack of acceptable returns being offered by the banks.
The reward for putting €10,000 away for a full year wouldn’t even fill a petrol tank in Ireland at the moment, so it’s easy to understand why many consumers are feeling disillusioned. After all, it takes a lot of time and discipline to save up that amount of money.
Many savers would now be better off focusing on keeping a large sum of money in their current account to avoid fees rather than waiting out a notice period on a traditional savings account.
To find the best rates available for your requirements, it is important to compare your options and consider switching.
