Nationwide account offers new rates for old

Older savers who have a Nationwide Building Society Flexaccount current account with a pension credited to it can now open a Monthly Income 65+ account which pays 4.75 per cent annual interest before tax and guarantees to match the Bank of England base rate until the end of January 2011.

The account has a minimum opening balance of £1 and interest is paid monthly into the Flexaccount.

Richard Brown, chief executive of product comparison website moneynet.co.uk, said that, despite it having one of the leading market rates, it was 'rather a complicated product.' He says another product worth considering is the Sixty Plus Saver Account from the Coventry Building Society which also guarantees to match base rates until June 2010 but also offers an additional bonus of 0.75 per cent for the first year, giving a rate of 5.5 per cent in year one.

New low rate for buy-to-let mortgages

National Counties building society last week launched the cheapest ever five-year fixed rate for a buy-to-let mortgage at 4.69 per cent.

'Although buy-to-let deals have become cheaper than when they launched in 1996, this is as close to residential rates as they have come,' said Simon Tyler of broker Chase De Vere Mortgage Management (0800 358 55 33).

The arrangement fee on the loan is £495 and early redemption penalties apply within the term, but borrowers can overpay by 10 per cent a year without penalty.

Tyler says that the second-cheapest buy-to-let five-year fix is 4.74 per cent from Mortgage Express, but this has a 1.5 per cent arrangement fee, which is typical on investment loans.