See more This is Money on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SYLVIA MORRIS, THIS IS MONEY AND DAILY MAIL SAVINGS EXPERT Updated: 16:07 BST, 8 September 2026
We hear time and time again that millions of savers do not know what interest they are earning.A third have no idea, latest figures from broker Hargreaves Lansdown claim.That’s a huge chunk of savers missing out when the average rate on easy-access accounts is just 1.6 per cent across those accounts currently on sale and ones closed to new savers. Some banks are now surpassing 100 issues of an easy-access account. Issues are essentially a specific version of an account assigned by a bank to a particular savings product.For example, last month, Cynergy Bank launched issue 101 of its Online Easy Access Account paying 4.15 per cent, including a two-percentage-point bonus for a year. But customers in issues 1 to 82 earn as little as 0.75 per cent.Other issues in the 80s pay 1.6 per cent to 1.9 per cent, while issue 100 pays 4.55 per cent including a one-year bonus. It’s a bonkers and confusing system. Rotten rates: Huge numbers of savers are missing out with the average easy access rate just 1.6% across accounts currently on sale and those closed to new saversMany of us know to make a diary note when a bonus runs out or our money is moved into a backwater account.But this issue-number trick aims to pull the wool over our eyes. Providers launch accounts with the same name but a different issue number. That can mean the difference between earning more than 4 per cent and less than 2 per cent.Banks and building societies hope customers will not notice. Post Office Online Saver is on issue 89 paying 4.31 per cent, including a 12-month bonus.Yet customers in issues 1 to 80 earn just 0.9 per cent. Charter Savings Easy Access Issue 78 pays 4.21 per cent. Some older issues pay 3.15 per cent. It is the same with easy-access cash Isas. Post Office Online Isa Easy Access pays 4.16 per cent, including a 3.26-point bonus, on its current issue 52. But customers in issues 1 to 47 receive just 0.9 per cent.Meanwhile, Charter Savings Bank has launched issue 82 of its Cash Isa paying 4.26 per cent. Older issues pay as little as 3.1 per cent. Latest figures show inflation is running at 2.9 per cent. Savers earning less than that are seeing the value of their money eroded in real terms.Headline rates are used to attract customers. Loyal savers often fare much worse, as the issue-number trick demonstrates.Another favourite tactic is offering top-paying accounts that last only a year. Once the bonus expires, rates tumble.Tesco Instant Access Cash Isa pays 4.2 per cent, but 3.15 percentage points of that is a one-year bonus.The Post Office Online Isa pays 4.16 per cent, but 3.26 percentage points comes from a bonus lasting just a year.That is why it pays to look beyond the headline rate, check your issue number and find out exactly what interest you are earning.
