Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis has revealed ways to boost the amount of interest earned on savings, after saying the current rates are "spit-worthily low".
The savings expert appeared on This Morning to dish out the advice to viewers, running through different ways people can grow their savings.
He said: “Millions of people are earning spit-worthily low rates of interest right now.
“Interest rates were terrible six months ago, and they’ve gotten worse.”
Martin advised viewers that they should ‘ditch and switch’ if their current interest rate was less than 1.35 per cent.
The savings guru urged people to check their savings as soon as possible and make a change if it’s too low.
He said: “If you’ve got savings, I want you to check now what your interest rate is. If you’re earning less than 1.35 per cent that is not enough.”
Martin revealed that Marcus and Saga (for over-50s) savings accounts are currently the top-paying easy access accounts, which both offer 1.35 per cent interest on easy access accounts.
He then urged viewers to "lock their money away" by using a fixed account, saying: “The advantage of a fixed account is the rate is fixed, and the rates are higher.
“The top paying one-year fix is Atom bank and PCF bank at 1.65 per cent.”
Martin also suggested trying a notice account, which is where customers need to give their bank a notice period before they can withdraw any money.
The 47-year-old then ran through some other ways to boost savings.
He said: “If you’ve got debts or a mortgage you should look at whether you can pay your debts off.
“If you get Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit, there is a government scheme called Help to Save. That means you can put in up to £50 a month and then you get a 50 per cent bonus on the highest amount you have in over two years.
He added: “Nationwide FlexDirect bank account gives you five per cent interest on up to £2,500 in it, so you can get a decent amount of interest there.
“If you’ve never bought a house and you’re aged between 18 and 39, you can open a lifetime ISA that gives you a 25 per cent boost on what you’ve saved in it.
“If you haven’t got the savings habit, check out auto save apps like Chip, Tandem and Moneybox, which automatically put money aside for you. The interest rate is poor so you’ll need to move it after a while.”
