■ WHAT’S the long-term future for building societies after the sinking of the Dunfermline cuts the number of building societies down to 50, asks Kevin Mountford at Moneysupermarket.com?
He fears surviving building societies have lost “competitive edge” and will usually follow banks in the best buy mortgage and savings deal charts.
On easy access savings accounts, for example, bank products include Alliance and Leicester (three per cent), Abbey Instant Access saver (three per cent) and Egg (2.85 per cent), while building society best buys include Mansfield BS (three per cent), Yorkshire BS and Barnsley BS (both 2.75 per cent).
■ British householders could overpay £1.3bn a year for their home insurance, says Darren Black at Confused. com, which saved an average of £185 per customer who got the website to shop around on their behalf.
Mr Black says 44 per cent of UK homeowners have not reviewed home insurance policies for the past five years and many could plainly get similar cover for less.
■ Nationwide Building Society has launched two five-year bonds offering a guaranteed return for savers: both the Fixed Rate Bond and the e-Bond will pay up to 4.15 per cent gross AER, on minimum £1 deposits.
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