How to spread your savings across current accounts

Many current accounts let you earn a great rate of interest on your savings.

Nationwide FlexDirect, TSB Classic Plus, Club Lloyds, Tesco Bank Current Account and Bank of Scotland Vantage all offer at least 3% on savings, for now anyway.

Sadly, all come with a cap on how much money you can hold in the account before the in-credit interest rate falls sharply.

To get around this, savvy savers will look to simply open as many accounts as they can and spread their money accordingly.

In this article, we look at how many of each account you are allowed to hold simultaneously.

Nationwide FlexDirect – Earn 5% on £5,000

Nationwide's FlexDirect current account pays 5% interest on balances up to £2,500 for the first 12 months.

However, you can have two FlexDirect accounts as long as one is a joint account.

This means you can earn 5% interest on up to £5,000.

Couples could even earn 5% on £7,500 if they each have a FlexDirect account and open a third joint account.

If you do opt for this open one account then use the refer a friend feature to pocket a further £100 each as a referral bonus.

You have to deposit £1,000 into the account each month in order to get the bumper interest rate but you can do that by bouncing the money between the two accounts with direct debits.

This account has no fees and an interest-free overdraft for 12 months. Plus, account holders can also open a regular savings account paying 5% on deposits of up to £500 a month.

TSB Classic Plus – Earn 5% on £4,000 until January then 3% on £3,000

Another source of 5% interest, although not for much longer, is TSB's Classic Plus account. The maximum balance for the interest is £2,000 but again you can hold two accounts as long as one is a joint account.

As with the Nationwide account this means a couple could bank up to £6,000 with TSB via two individual current accounts and one joint account.

This rate doesn't end after 12 months so could be a good long-term home for your savings.

However, this rate is dropping to 3% and the maximum you can put away is £1,500 per account, so £3,000 across two.

You have to pay in £500 a month and register for internet banking and paperless statements to get the 5% interest rate.

TSB will also pay you 5% cashback on up to £100 of contactless spending each month using either your debit card, Android Pay or Apple Pay.

Lloyds Bank Club Lloyds – Earn 4% on £10,000 until January then 2% after

The Club Lloyds account pays 4% interest on balances between £4,000 and £5,000 and Lloyds allows you to hold one individual account and one joint account.

That means you can potentially put £15,000 in three accounts (two single and one joint) if you are a couple and earn 4% on it.

You need to pay in at least £1,500 a month otherwise there is a £5 monthly charge and there also needs to be at least two active direct debits in order to get the interest rate.

However, this interest rate is due to drop to 2% from January.

Bank of Scotland Vantage – Earn 3% on £15,000

Bank of Scotland allow you to hold three of its current accounts and if you add the free Vantage feature then you can earn 3% interest on balances between £3,000 and £5,000.

That means couples could hold six Bank of Scotland current accounts between them earning 3% interest on £30,000.

To get the interest rate you need to pay in at least £1,000 a month, stay in credit and have two active direct debits.

Tesco Bank Current Account – Earn 3% on £6,000

Tesco Bank's current account is fee-free and pays 3% on balances up to £3,000. You can hold two accounts so you can put up to £6,000 here, or couples can save £12,000.

The great thing with this account is there is no monthly deposit requirement and you don't have to set up direct debits.

That means you really can just use this account as a straightforward savings account – just with a far higher rate than you can get on traditional savings.

Compare current accounts