The high street building society’s updated version of its Christmas Regular Saver has a 5% interest rate and allows you to put away between £1 and £150 each month until October 2025
Yorkshire Building Society has launched a new savings account which could help you put away £1,500 before Christmas this year.
The high street building society’s updated version of its Christmas Regular Saver has a 5% interest rate and allows you to put away between £1 and £150 each month until October 2025. If you put away the maximum amount each month, you could save up to £1,500 and earn £34.23 in interest on top. However, the interest rate on the account is variable, meaning it could go down – or up – during the term.
With the Bank of England poised to cut interest rates this year, they could come down, although the building society will let you know beforehand if there are any changes. You have to be 16 years old and living in the UK to open one of these accounts, and you can do so in branches, agencies and online.
The money you have saved will be made available on November 1, although you can access it earlier if you want to. Under the terms and conditions, you can withdraw the cash on any one day until October 31. Last year, around 20,000 people used the saver account and put away an average of £1,070 for the festive season.
According to research by the Yorkshire Building Society, the average cost of Christmas last year sat at £774, with over half of Brits saying they planned to spend up to £1,000 on things such as gifts, food, decorations and entertainment.
Almost a fifth (18%) of people said they would rely on some form of borrowing to cover the cost of Christmas, and over a third (36%) said it would take them at least a year to pay the amount borrowed back. The building society also noted that there was £ 360billion being held in current and savings accounts, which were paying rates of less than 1%. This means thousands of Brits could be losing out on extra income available from accounts paying higher interest rates.
Harry Walker, senior savings manager at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “Our new Christmas Regular Saver encourages people to save money and help to spread the cost of Christmas. For those new to saving, using the regular saver will give shoppers a healthy sum to draw on for Christmas 2025 without having to rely on credit. For some people, it may also show that saving regularly can be achievable and if the habit is maintained after Christmas, a healthy savings pot can be built.
“With our recent data showing such large amounts are held in accounts paying 1% or less, the start of a new year provides the perfect opportunity to take a close look at your finances and how you could make small changes which add up to much bigger returns. It doesn’t matter how you choose to go about it, making just one positive change to your finances, could make a big difference in the long-term.”
