High street banks stand accused of short-changing savers by not passing on the full interest rate rise since the Bank of England hiked rates. Now the Government, regulators and news sites are all focused on the gap between what banks are charging on mortgage rates and what they are offering cash savers.

Moneyfacts data shows the gap is huge, with average two-year fixed rate mortgage going from 2.52% in June 2018 to 5.49% in June this year. At the same time average easy-access rates have only gone from 0.5% in 2018 up to 2.21% in June this year. Clearly shopping around can net you far higher savings rates, but there are lots of other ways to get money out of banks to boost your finances.

FIX YOUR SAVINGS

More people are shifting to fixed rate accounts as they are offering much higher rates than their easy-access counterparts. You need to be certain you will not need the money during the fix as often you will pay a penalty to withdraw the money early, or in some cases any access will be prohibited altogether.

But for a one-year fix you can get up to 6.05%, so it is worth considering. On £10,000 of savings the difference between the top-easy access rate (4.35%) and the top one-year fix equals £170 – so it is worth the tie-up if you know you will not need the money.

Potential boost: £170

CURRENT ACCOUNT INCENTIVES

Banks really want current account customers, even if they are not as fussed about getting savings customers. This means lots of them will offer a juicy bonus rate if you move your current account. It used to be quite a lot of hassle to move current accounts, but the Current Account Switching Service now takes care of the admin and will automatically transfer your accounts, balances and direct debits.

The top deal now is from NatWest, which will pay you £200 to move your account, while First Direct will pay you £175 and Lloyds will pay £150 plus a free reward (which includes cinema tickets or Disney+ subscription). You need to check the small print on all these deals before you switch – most won’t allow you to have been a customer of that bank or a sister bank in the past few years, they will also require you to pay in a certain amount of money within a couple of months of opening the account and many stipulate that you open the account online, rather than in branch.

Potential boost: £200

CREDIT CARD STOOZING

This was a widespread practice back when savings rates were high but it is died out since interest rates have been rock bottom. Despite the weird-sounding name it is remarkably simple: you do all your spending on a 0% credit card and instead divert your money to savings, netting you a decent interest.

There are some big health warnings here: you shouldn’t do this if you have worries about getting into debt or spending excessively when using a credit card, you should also make sure you have a good credit rating, you should be very clear on when you need to repay your credit card debt and you should always make the minimum payments.

Currently you can get a 0% credit card for up to 23 months, from both Natwest and Barclaycard (note: only those with the best credit ratings will get this, otherwise you will be offered a shorter period). So, if you spent £1,000 a month on that credit card and then diverted that £1,000 each month to your savings, earning the current top rate for an easy-access account of 4.35%, you would earn £287 on your money over a year. Obviously the higher your usual spending, the higher your potential savings interest.

You could also use a regular savings account and get a higher interest rate, but they will cap the amount you can put in each month (more on this later) – so a big spender would need to split their money between this and a standard easy-access account.

Potential boost: dependent on spending

USE A REGULAR SAVER – BUT BEWARE THE HEADLINE RATE

Regular savings accounts offer higher rates than easy-access accounts but they are much more limited on how much you can pay in each month. For example, the top account, from Skipton Building Society, pays 7.5% but only on up to £250 a month. This is great if you are genuinely saving money each month, but you should not use it for existing savings, unless you have already moved those savings to the top easy-access account. That is because you will only get the full 7% interest on the first monthly saving and get 11 months of that rate on the second month etc. until your final payment just gets one month at that 7% rate. For example, if you save the maximum £250 a month in that Skipton account, you will get £121 of interest across the year. On the £3,000 you have saved over that period that is an overall interest rate of 4%.

Lots of the best deals are for existing customers (the Skipton deal is one example), so you will either need to switch accounts (see above) or hunt out the best deal your bank offers. Before signing up you should check whether early withdrawals are allowed or whether you will face a penalty for withdrawing your money.

Potential boost: £121

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