How to keep track of your savings rates
Written by The Blooom editorial team, published and updated . It takes about 6 minutes to read.
Savings rates drift, bonuses expire and fixed terms end. Here is a simple way to keep track of what your own accounts pay, and the dates worth diarising.
Why does my savings rate change?
Introductory bonuses end, variable rates can be changed with notice, and fixed terms mature into something else. The rate you opened is often not the rate you have.
What should I write down for each savings account?
The provider and account name, the balance, today's rate, the date any bonus ends or a fix matures, and the date you last checked.
How much savings interest is tax-free?
Outside an ISA, the Personal Savings Allowance covers £1,000 of interest for a basic-rate taxpayer and £500 for a higher-rate taxpayer. Above that, interest is taxed at your marginal rate.
It's easy to know your mortgage rate and not one of your savings rates. That is understandable (a savings account asks nothing of you), and it is exactly why the money quietly drifts.
Why the rate you opened is not the rate you have
- Introductory bonuses: many easy-access accounts include a bonus for the first year, and the headline rate falls when it drops off.
- Variable means variable: an easy-access rate can be changed with notice, in either direction, without you doing anything.
- Fixed terms end: a one or two year fix matures into something else, sometimes into a holding account paying very little.
- Closed to new money: providers often keep a good name on a new account and leave the old one behind on a lower rate.
See your own figures
Put in one account and Blooom shows what it earns, what it could earn, and every date that matters.
The five-minute version
You do not need a spreadsheet with formulas. You need one list, with five columns, that you look at a few times a year.
- Provider and account name.
- Balance.
- Current rate: the one showing today, not the one on the advert you opened it from.
- The date any bonus ends, or the date a fix matures.
- The date you last checked.
That last column is the one that does the work. A rate with no checked-date next to it is a rumour.
The dates worth diarising
Two reminders cover most of it: one a month before any bonus expires, and one a month before any fixed term matures. Those are the two moments when doing nothing has a cost, and they are both knowable in advance.
What to compare against
Compare like with like. An easy-access rate belongs next to other easy-access rates; a two-year fix belongs next to other two-year fixes. Comparing a notice account with an instant one flatters whichever you already hold.
Check the conditions as well as the number: some rates require a minimum balance, cap withdrawals, or need a monthly deposit to keep paying. A headline rate with three conditions attached is a different product from one without.
Two things that change the real return
Tax first. Outside an ISA, savings interest is taxable, and the Personal Savings Allowance covers £1,000 of interest for a basic-rate taxpayer and £500 for a higher-rate taxpayer. Above that, interest is taxed at your marginal rate, so the gap between two accounts narrows after tax.
Protection second. FSCS deposit cover is £120,000 per person, per authorised FIRM, not per account and not per brand. Several high-street names share a single banking licence, so spreading money across two of them can leave you under one limit without realising.
Figures checked 24 Jul 2026 (2026/27 tax year), from gov.uk and the FSCS.
Blooom gives information and eligibility, not regulated advice. Figures are for the tax year named above and the right choice depends on your own circumstances.
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See your own figures
Put in one account and Blooom shows what it earns, what it could earn, and every date that matters.