Spotlight On: RNLI savings account

The deal

Furness Building Society has launched an instant access affinity savings account with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

The good points

The Society will make an annual cash payment to the RNLI equal to 1 per cent of the average balance held in all the affinity accounts. Similar link-ups in the past with a hospice and the North West Air Ambulance have yielded around £100,000 a year for each.

The bad points

The interest rate on the account is reasonably low at 0.45 per cent. But bearing in mind the contribution to the RNLI, that means your cash is effectively earning 1.45 per cent, just not for you.

Conclusion

If you want to support the work of the RNLI, this is a simple way to ensure the organisation gets valuable cash. Anyone can open the account with only £1 but, initially, it will be a postal-only account, unless you live near one of Furness's 11 branches or 17 agencies. Details at the society's website at www.furnessbs.co.uk