Nearly half of instant access savings accounts contain £500 or less, Paragon Bank analysis of the latest CACI data shows.

CACI’s database*, which captures savings data from more than 30 leading providers, showed that 49% of instant access non-ISA savings accounts in January contained less than £500, rising to 55% containing £1,000 or less.

The analysis found that just under a third of accounts have over £1,000 and up to £25,000, with 11.5% of accounts containing more than that figure.

Derek Sprawling, Paragon Bank Savings Director, said:

“With households dealing with rising costs across food, energy and clothing, it’s concerning that half of instant access non-ISA savings accounts contain less than £500. This suggests that people may not have a great deal to fall back on to cope with rising costs, if indeed they have a savings account at all.

“We appreciate that times are difficult for many people but hope that savers are conscious of the peace of mind that maintaining a savings buffer can provide. It’s also important that if you do have money in a savings account, it’s working as hard as it can for you by achieving a good rate of interest.”

The latest CACI data also showed that a high proportion of non-ISA instant access accounts are earning interest below 0.1%. The figures show that 81% of easy access accounts by volume are earning less than 0.1%, and 68% by value, equating to £418 billion.

Overall savings balances declined slightly in January, falling to £986 billion from £988 billion in December. The average savings balance dipped by £50 to £12,526.

Instant access non-ISAs continue to dominate the savings market, accounting for 62% of accounts by value at £612.5 billion. The average balance in an instant access non-ISA account stood at £12,184 in January.

Instant access ISAs were the next largest segment, representing 19% of balances and £183.5 billion of savings.

Derek Sprawling added:

“January savings balances overall experienced a slight dip compared to December, which is to be expected as people pay for Christmas spending and tax return payments fall due. It will be interesting to see how balances perform in subsequent months as household bills come under increasing pressure.”

*CACI produce an analysis of deposit stock from the main deposit banks providing data from more than 30 providers, based on individual adult cash savings. It allows us to focus on savings accounts, by combining all account types and both ISAs and non-ISAs. Unless stated otherwise, all data in this release is sourced from: CACI’s Current Account & Savings Database, as of end of January 2022.

For further information contact:

Michael Clarke
Head of Media Relations
Paragon Bank
Tel: 07740090746
www.paragonbank.co.uk 

Notes to editors:

Paragon Bank PLC a subsidiary of the Paragon Banking Group PLC which is a FTSE 250 company based in Solihull in the West Midlands. Established in 1985, Paragon Banking Group PLC has over £13 billion of assets under management and manages over 450,000 customer accounts.

Paragon Bank PLC is authorised and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Registered in England number 05390593. Registered office 51 Homer Road, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 3QJ. Paragon Bank PLC is registered on the Financial Services Register under the firm reference number 604551.