Two New Super Savings Accounts!

Savers can add these new savings accounts to their Best Buy list, as both pay more than 5% a year before tax.

Pay attention, because there's a serious scramble going on for our savings!

Of course, everyone (even seriously well-heeled individuals) should have some of their wealth safely stashed away on deposit, if only to act as an emergency fund or rainy-day pot for when the chips are down or luck runs out.

Taxpayers should put the first £3,000 of savings into a top-paying cash mini-ISA savings account each tax year, as these pay tax-free interest at headline-grabbing rates. However, any remainder (and any money to which you need easy access) should go into a table-topping no-notice account.

One of the advantages of trawling through hundreds of press releases each week is that it's easy to spot new Best Buys. As it happens, I'm presently looking around for a new home for my spare cash, so I'm keen to find the very best home for this pile.

Happily, I spotted two new savings accounts which launched this week, with both offering market-beating rates. Here are the details of these table-topping accounts:

1) Alliance & Leicester DirectSaver

• Pays monthly interest at a rate of 5.25% a year before tax (5.38% AER);
• Minimum investment of £5,000; maximum of £100,000;
• Available online or at Alliance & Leicester branches;
• Offers easy access via Internet or telephone, but no interest is earned on the balance during any calendar month in which a withdrawal is made; and
• Deposits and withdrawals are made via BACS from/to any current account, plus monthly interest can be paid directly into your current account.

If you rarely touch your cash pot from one year to the next, or rely on your savings for a regular income, then the Alliance & Leicester DirectSaver account may be ideal. However, it's not for those who frequently dip into their savings, as each withdrawal will cost you an entire month's interest. Hence, three withdrawals a year will reduce your savings interest by a quarter, cutting the rate to just 4% a year before tax (a rate which is still better than most).

2) IceSave Easy Access

This is a first offering from a new entrant to the UK: Landsbanki, which is Iceland's oldest major bank and which already owns one UK bank (Heritable Bank).

• Pays monthly interest at a rate of 5.08% a year before tax (5.20% AER);
• Rate guaranteed to be at least 0.25% above Bank of England base rate to 1 October 2009 and then at least equal to base rate until 1 October 2011;
• Minimum investment of £250; maximum of £1,000,000;
• Minimum withdrawal/deposit of £100;
• Offers easy access via Internet; and
• Deposits and withdrawals are made via BACS from/to any current account.

Although balances below £250 earn just 0.5% a year before tax, this would be a Best Buy account for anyone with savings of between £250 and £1 million, with the five-year rate guarantee being the icing on the cake. However, table-topping accounts from new entrants often run into teething problems (think ING and ICICI Bank), so it might be worth waiting for the dust to settle before piling in!

Finally, you can learn more about the art of saving in Ten Tricks To Boost Your Savings.

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