C&G postal account is overtaken

INTEREST on the Cheltenham & Gloucester postal share account has fallen to 7.5 per cent net, or 10 per cent gross, from its previous level of 7.8 per cent net or 10.4 per cent gross on a minimum deposit of pounds 2,500. This means that the similar instant access postal account from Bristol & West, offering 7.84 per cent net or 10.45 per cent gross on a smaller deposit of pounds 2,000 is now the best buy.

Also attractive to savers are postal accounts from the Scarborough, offering rates of 7.5 per cent net, or 10 per cent gross on a deposit of pounds 1,000, and the Norwich and Peterborough, which offers 7.54 per cent net, or 10.05 per cent gross on the same amount.

Stroud and Swindon Building Society's Tessa looks like the best buy with a rate of 11.6 per cent on an initial deposit of pounds 100. This is the highest at present on a Tessa without early transfer penalties.

Allied Trust Bank is still offering 12.68 per cent if you can put pounds 9,000 into a feeder account, but the rates are variable. National & Counties Tessa pays out the high rate of 12 per cent gross, but this is subject to the high transfer penalty of 90 days' loss of interest.

Aegon Life's one-year guaranteed income bond now pays 8.6 per cent to basic-rate taxpayers who can afford to invest pounds 50,000. It is still the best buy in the guaranteed income bonds market.