Due to recently selling my house and buying a far cheaper house elsewhere I now have a bank balance of £149,509.10 in my Santander account. Despite this they pay me no interest at all. Santander said I could obtain a different type of account that would pay me interest but only on a balance up to £20,000. I am of the impression that the bank doesn't want my money and would prefer me to transfer it elsewhere. I find this very strange indeed because I thought banks needed people with large balances so they could lend to other people and charge interest on the loans. Seems to me if you have a fairly large amount of money the last place you put it is in a bank. Having no idea where to invest my money I assume I will have to just leave it in the bank and watch it depreciate due to inflation. Oh well, such is life.

As research shows fraudsters targeting people under-55 and encouraging them to access their pension early is on the increase, Which? investigates some of the causes. City of London Police figures show that in the 12 months to February 2016, £13.2 million was lost to pensions liberation [problem]s – an increase of 26% on the previous year. Pension liberation schemes target people under-55 and encourage them to withdraw or transfer their pension savings. However, pensions are designed to only allow savers access to their money after they turn 55. Accessing pensions savings before 55, unless in exceptional circumstances such as ill-health, is not permitted and consumers face losing up to 70% of their pot as a tax penalty. And yet we found that companies offering early pension release for those under-55 are clearly advertising their services online. These sites offer early access to pension savings, potentially exploiting consumer confusion with the new pension freedoms, and don’t explain the huge losses at stake, often charging exorbitant fees. Many of these sites, which could potentially be [problem]s, also appear prominently when searching online for phrases such as ‘cashing in your pension’ and could be contributing to an increase in pensions liberation [problem]s. The Financial Conduct Authority has issued a clear warning to savers about opting for early pension release, but adverts for early pension release often downplay the risks. http://press.which.co.uk/whichpressreleases/pension-[problem]s-cost-savers-millions/

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) was raised to £85,000 per account in 2010 following the financial crisis and specifically the collapse of Northern Rock. However, EU regulations mean that this amount is going to change, and it’s going to go down by £10,000. The Bank of England has announced that the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is making changes to the protection under FSCS. For most savers currently covered by the FSCS, the existing level of deposit protection (£85,000) will be maintained for six months before changing to £75,000 from Jan 1 2016 http://www.bitterwallet.com/fscs-protection-to-be-cut-by-european-directive/86392

Barclays is set to move around 2.3m savers on to a new type of Isa which for two thirds of them will mean worse interest rates. The bank has already closed 11 of its cash Isas to new customers and will now be withdrawing them from existing customers too. The new Isas will pay less than the two per cent annual interest, meaning more meagre savings rate for 1.6m customers, with 740,000 benefitting or remaining unaffected. Barclays has said that it has been urged to simplify its Isas. Lee Chiswell, head of savings at Barclays said: These changes will make it easier for our customers to understand their products and easier for staff to serve them. We are writing to all impacted customers to let them know how these changes will affect them, and we have worked with our colleagues to ensure they can support customers who have any questions about these changes. http://www.cityam.com/1407333497/barclays-isa-changes-hit-savers http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28675631