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Regular Savings Accounts

Christmas is over for another year and we are now nervously awaiting the arrival of the dreaded credit card bill due to hit the doormat any day now.

Many of us will have made new year's resolutions to sort out our finances, so why not take a look at some of the regular savings accounts available which could prevent you having to rely so heavily on the plastic come next December?

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Barclays is grabbing the headlines at the moment with its latest 12.5% regular saver offer. Whilst it's an impressive looking rate, there are some terms and restrictions you need to be aware of before running off down the high street to sign up. To get this rate, you must have a Barclays current account and have your salary or pension paid in to it (min £1,000 per month), so you need to be prepared to go through the process of switching bank accounts. If you're happy to switch, please be aware that the 12.5% deal only lasts 12 months, you can pay in a maximum of £250 per month and no withdrawals are permitted during the year. If you pay in the maximum each month, you'll earn £204 in interest before tax, but remember when the year is up, you'll have to switch banks again if you want to chase another of these offers.

Alliance & Leicester has a similar deal offering 12%, if you open a premier current account where you must pay in salary or pension of at least £500 per month. A more flexible deal is the Lloyds TSB Regular Saver paying 8%. This is a two-year offer that lets you make withdrawals and whilst you have to open a current account, there is no requirement to pay in each month. Thus you could just open it with £1 and still have access to a very good savings rate.

There are other regular savings accounts available that don't require you to open a current account, such as Ipswich Building Society paying 7.25% and both Abbey and Halifax with offers of 7%. To check out these offers and others that may make next year's post Christmas credit card bill less of a worry, take a look at our savings accounts best buys.