Banking

If you're a club or society using Lloyds or Bank of Scotland's 'Treasurer's Account' you'll soon be moved to a new paid-for version costing up to £8.50 a month. The shake-up takes force on 14 January 2025 unless you move your money elsewhere beforehand. Here's what's happening – and your options.

If you're scammed into making a bank transfer to a fraudster, your bank MUST now refund you in most cases, under new industry-wide rules which came into force on Monday 7 October. But you still need to be cautious when making payments, as you may have up to £100 deducted from your refund – and banks will be able to reject claims entirely if they find you were really careless.

Chase has cut the rates on its linked savings accounts by 0.1 percentage points. As of Tuesday 8 October, its easy-access 'boosted saver' now pays 4.75%, while its standard saver pays just 3.75%. The changes mean you can earn more on your savings elsewhere – though Chase is still worth keeping for its debit card perks.

Nationwide has completed its takeover of Virgin Money, meaning the bank's savers and borrowers could become members of the building society in future. The Virgin Money brand will also be phased out eventually – though there's NO change for new or existing customers of either brand for now.

Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, which are all part of the Lloyds Banking Group, will shut at least 292 of their bank branches in 2024 and 2025, the Group has confirmed.

Barclays is overhauling its 'Blue Rewards' loyalty scheme for 100,000s of customers by scrapping monthly cash payments and adding Apple TV+ instead. The changes mean most should ditch the scheme from Wednesday 4 September. Here's what you need to know.

Chase has cut the rates on its linked savings accounts by 0.25 percentage points. As of Thursday 8 August, its easy-access 'boosted saver' now pays 4.85% – down from 5.1% – while its standard saver pays just 3.85%. The changes mean you can earn more on your savings elsewhere – though Chase is still worth keeping for its debit card perks.

The Bank of England has cut the base rate from 5.25% to 5%. This rate is used by the central bank to charge other banks and lenders when they borrow money, so the move will impact mortgage and savings rates. Here's what you need to know.

You've just days left to grab Chase's temporary 5.1% easy-access savings deal, as the app-only bank has announced it'll stop offering the boosted rate to newbies after 11.59pm on Wednesday 17 July.

The Bank of England has held the base rate at 5.25% for the seventh time in a row. But with some economists and traders still predicting a rate cut in August, there could be a knock on impact on mortgage and savings rates. Here's what you need to know.