Chase Regular Saver Launch: 6.5% Fixed – How It Compares

Chase has launched its first UK regular saver, paying 6.5% AER (6.31% gross) fixed for 12 months on up to £300 a month. You can withdraw at any time without penalty, and interest is paid monthly rather than as a lump sum at the end.

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Chase Regular Saver at a glance

• Rate: 6.5% AER (6.31% gross), fixed for 12 months

• Pay in: up to £300 a month, counted from the day you open the account, not calendar months

• Withdrawals: any time, to another Chase account, with no fees or penalties

• Interest: calculated daily, paid monthly

• Eligibility: UK residents aged 18 or over with a Chase current account. One Regular Saver per customer

• After 12 months: your balance and interest move to a Chase current or saver account of your choice, and the Regular Saver keeps running at whatever the rate is at the time

• FSCS: protected up to £120,000 under J.P. Morgan Europe Limited's banking licence, shared with any other Chase accounts you hold

What you'd actually earn

Max it out at £300 a month and you'll have paid in £3,600 by the end of the year and earned £125.53 in interest — a closing balance of £3,725.53, on Chase's own figures.

That's a long way short of the £234 you'd get from 6.5% on £3,600, and it's the same maths that catches people out with every regular saver. Your first £300 earns interest for 12 months, your last £300 for one, and your average balance across the year is a bit under £2,000. The rate is real; it just applies to a pot that's building from zero.

Save £100 a month and it's £41.84 on £1,200. Save £200 and it's £83.69 on £2,400.

How it compares

*Approximate interest if you pay in the maximum every month for 12 months. Chase's figure is its own published estimate.

Three accounts beat Chase on rate, but the gap in cash terms is smaller than the headlines suggest, and each comes with a trade-off Chase doesn't have.

First Direct pays 7% on the same £300 cap, so it earns around £10 more over the year. But you can't withdraw without closing the account, and interest only arrives at maturity.

Santander has the best rate at 8%, but its £200 cap means you'd earn about £104 — roughly £20 less than Chase. The rate is variable and includes a 5% bonus that falls away after 12 months, leaving 3%.

The Co-operative Bank pays 7% on £250 a month, roughly £114 in interest. It's variable, so it can be cut mid-term.

Chase is fourth on rate but second on pounds earned, and it's the only one of the four that combines a fixed rate, penalty-free access and monthly interest. Nationwide's Flex Regular Saver matches the 6.5% but caps you at £200 and cuts the rate to 1.05% if you withdraw more than three times in the year.

All of these need a current account. Chase's is free, opens in the app in minutes and has no minimum pay-in, which makes it the easiest of the bunch to add if your banking is already spread across other providers.

The catches

You can't top back up. Withdrawals are free, but the £300 monthly limit still applies. Take £500 out in month six and you can only put £300 back in that month. Treat the access as an emergency exit, not a feature you'll use.

Watch where it lands. After 12 months the balance moves to a Chase account you choose. The standard Chase Saver pays 2.25% variable, so pick the destination deliberately and move the money on if there's something better at the time.

One per customer. Unlike Chase's easy-access savers, where you can hold several, you get one Regular Saver.

It's a habit account, not a home for a lump sum. If you already have £3,600 in cash, a good easy-access account earning on the full balance from day one will beat drip-feeding it in here. The smarter move is to park the lump sum in easy access and feed £300 a month across — you earn on both.

Verdict

• Already bank with Chase? Open it. There's no lock-in and no downside.

• Have a Santander or First Direct current account? Their savers pay more per pound — but regular savers stack. Max out Santander, First Direct and Chase together and you're saving £800 a month at 6.5% to 8%.

• Don't bank with any of them? Chase is the easiest to add, and the fixed rate plus penalty-free access makes it the one to pick if you want the door left open.

Regular saver rates move quickly, and several smaller providers pay decent rates without asking for a current account. The table below is live and updates as rates change: