At some point we all need to have a little extra cash stored away which we can dip into. With the credit-crunch hitting everyone in varying degrees there’s never been a better time to shop around to find which savings accounts will earn you the most interest for your investment and how to get there. With this in mind, here are some good accounts to look at.

Halifax – The ‘Halifax Regular Saver Ex/C’ offers a fixed rate of 8% in its best interest account, but there are a few catches. If you can afford to tie your money up for a while, in this case 12 months, then there is no better account for you as the interest rate will earn you a significant amount and is a fantastic rate in the current economic climate. However, there is also an investment limit as you need to invest between £100 and £2000 per month. This means that if you need to be able to access your money and cannot afford to put it away for so long then you’ll have to miss out. Good if you’re fortunate enough to have enough to do so, bad if things are tight.

Alliance & Leicester – Second on the interest rate leader board is the ‘Alliance & Leicester eSaver Issue 2’. An online account with interest paid monthly, a £1 minimum investment and a healthy interest rate of 6.3%. And best of all you can access your savings whenever you like and not need to worry about Alliance & Leicester telling you that you’re not allowed. Perfect if you’re looking for savings accounts that offer good interest and equally good flexibility.

Bank of Scotland – If you’re not bothered about needing to access your money and you want to invest more than £2000 the Bank of Scotland’s ‘6 Month Fixed Rate Account’ could be perfect for you. Offering a minimum investment of £10, 000 in return for a 5.7% rate of interest paid at maturity it’s a great way of tying up your money in exchange for a good interest rate. But, crucially, the fixed term is only 6 months and is shorter than most banks normal minimum fixed term of one year. Good if you can afford to put some money away for a while, even better if you don’t want it to be for too long.

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