Martin Lewis returned to ITV tonight with another live edition of his Money Show filled with important financial advice. And this week's programme had a special focus - savings.
While mortgage rates have been rising since the Bank of England increased the base rate of interest, Lewis has said banks should be putting up the amount of interest savings can accrue too. "Let's stop the savings rip-off," he told viewers.
"UK base rates have been rising since December and are likely to rise again this Thursday. But while variable mortgage rates have shot up in the blink of an eye, we've yet to see most savings rates rise at all."
He said the minimum rate of interest savers should be earning is 2%, and recommended several accounts that offer such rates, including products from Marcus, Saga, Yorkshire Building Society, Barclays and HSBC. However, Lewis said there is a "big downer" attached to saving money.
"All savings in reality are losings," he said. "Which means even in the top paying fixed accounts your savings are not growing as quickly as prices are rising.
"So your purchasing power of money kept in savings is diminishing even in the maximum interest. Now, you might be thinking - what's the point of bothering?
"The honest answer is you could look at investing. But the higher your savings earn the more you mitigate the damage of inflation.
"We cannot prevent it, but we can mitigate it. So it's probably more important now than ever that you get the top rate."
He then issued a special plea to one group of viewers in particular. "If you're an inactive saver, if you're sitting with your savings in a pants account right now that you've not done anything about for a year or two, that's earning you 0.2%, forget riding the market," he said.
"Take the fire and the passion you've got hopefully from listening to me right now telling you 'You are being ripped off' and just go and sort it now. Do it while you've got that drive to get the best interest you possibly can."
The Martin Lewis Money Show Live airs on Tuesdays at 8pm on ITV
