Scots savers are being urged to switch savings accounts now as banks stop slashing rates.
Rate cuts have been common during the pandemic, but banks seem to have taken their foot off the pedal recently, the Mirror reports.
June 2021 is the first month since October 2020 that average savings rates have not fallen, according to financial experts, Moneyfacts.
Rates with the typical one-year bond actually jumped from 0.44 per cent to 0.48 per cent.
Meanwhile bonds of more that two years went up from 0.66 per cent to 0.72 per cent.
Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts, said: "Challenger banks have made notable improvements to fixed rate bonds and this has resulted in average rates improving on both the one-year and longer-term fixed bond sectors for the second month running."
However, this will be a cold comfort to many savers.
A year ago the average one-year bond paid almost twice as much - 0.86 per cent.
And the elephant in the room is that no new savings deals even come close to beating inflation, which is now 2.1 per cent.
Inflation is the enemy of savers. If it is higher than the interest rate on your savings deals, the value of your cash loses spending power.
That's because inflation covers the rising cost of goods and services.
If you had £100 in January in an account earning no interest, and inflation is 2.1 per cent, in December what would have cost you £100 at the start of the year would cost £102.10.
But remember that cash has to be kept somewhere, and it makes sense to pick a deal with the best rate.
That way you are reducing the impact inflation has on your money, even if you can't beat it.
Most savers seem to agree. Despite savings deals being low for some time, consumers put £11.6billion into deals in April, according to the Bank of England - taking the total for 2021 to £51billion.
Shopping around for the best rate is key. Springall said: "Switching is still vital."
The top one-year bond, from Cynergy Bank, pays 0.9 per cent, as does one from Zopa Bank.
The best easy access account, also from Cynergy, pays 0.5 per cent - but the average such deal pays just 0.16 per cent.
But no-one knows if rates will start to rise properly again or if this is just a temporary lull.
Whatever happens, Moneyfacts warned that the savings recovery will likely take a long time.
Unfortunately banks have little incentive to make big hikes to savings rates any time soon.
Savers can thank the Bank of England for that. Firstly, the Bank cut its base rate to new lows of 0.1 per cent last March.
This rate is factored into the savings rates paid by banks, and many cut theirs in response.
Secondly, in normal times banks offered savers good deals to get them to deposit cash with them. They then lent that money out or invested it to make their profits, and everyone benefitted.
But those banks can borrow money very cheaply from the Bank of England at the moment, so they have even less incentive to offer savers decent rates.
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