Can't find a bank that offers joint savings accounts? Try these paying up to 4.65%: SYLVIA MORRIS

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Who would have thought it would be difficult to open a joint account? Well it is, judging by the number of Money Mail readers telling me of their experiences, and the problem is widespread.

Top-paying savings accounts being launched today will only let you open an account in one name.

Reader Derek Williams tells me he has wasted an inordinate amount of time researching to see if accounts that offer top rates can be opened in joint names and has found it is not always explained on bank websites.

Frozen out: banks are reluctant to offer competitive joint savings accounts claiming it involves more admin and expense to set them up

Ray Kay spent 40 minutes on the phone trying to find out if he could open an Ulster Bank Loyalty Saver easy-access account in joint names with his wife. The answer is that you can – but you must be a current account holder with the bank.

Why this reluctance to encourage couples who save?

The reason banks give is that it involves more admin and expense to set up joint accounts and they can offer better rates sticking to single accounts.

The best easy-access accounts which you can hold in joint names and are opening to new savers include Family BS Market Tracker and Secure Trust Access Account Issue 19 at 4.65 per cent and Yorkshire BS Easy Access Saver Issue 3 at 4.35 per cent. 

Both deals are only available online. You can open the Family BS account online, through its branch in Epsom, Surrey, or by post.

Scottish BS has its Saver Plus, which you open in its branches or by post. It pays a decent 4.51 per cent but you are limited to a maximum of four withdrawals a year. 

However, you can’t take out the account in joint names if you want to open it online.

On fixed-rate bonds, SmartSave and Atom are often found at, or very near, the top of the best-buy tables but you cannot open a joint account with either of them.

Other top providers which do let you include online banks Cynergy Bank (4.75 per cent for one year), Kent Reliance (4.71 per cent) Shawbrook Bank (4.57 per cent), Charter Savings Bank (4.56 per cent) and United Trust Bank (4.55 per cent). 

If you want to stick to a local branch, best rates come from Kent Reliance (4.71 per cent), and building societies Nottingham (4.41 per cent), Principality (4.3 per cent), Leeds (4.2 per cent) along with Cambridge, Newcastle and Furness (all 4.25 per cent).

And, as a reminder, cash Isas can’t be opened as joint accounts. Government rules mean they can only be opened in one name.

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Where rates are falling the fastest

Big banks, NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays, have announced they are reducing rates on their easy-access accounts following the cut in the Bank of England base rate to 4.75 per cent earlier this month.

Leave your cash here and you’ll see a drop in value as the banks pay less than the 1.7 per cent annual inflation rate to September.

Barclays Everyday Saver currently pays 1.66 per cent on sums up to £10,000 in your account. In 12 days’ time, on December 2, that rate will drop to 1.51 per cent – then plummet to 1.26 per cent in February.

NatWest Flexible Saver, currently paying 1.6 per cent on up to £25,000, goes down to 1.5 per cent on December 5.

HSBC Flexible Saver goes down to 1.5 per cent in January. The rate was cut on Monday from 2 per cent to 1.75 per cent.

Check the best cash Isa rates in our savings tables