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Big banks fail to keep up with rates from lesser-known savings providers
Latest Which? research reveals the top savings providers are digital banks and building societies
Savers could get a better deal from digital banks and building societies rather than big banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Metro Bank and Santander, according to new Which? research.
We surveyed thousands of personal savings account customers and analysed savings rates on offer from 39 providers to find the brands doing well by their customers - and the ones falling short.
In total, just eight providers met our benchmarks to be named Which? Recommended Providers, many of which are lesser-known brands.
Read on to find out if your savings provider was one of the lowest-scoring in our latest analysis and our new recommended providers for 2025.
Big banks falling behind
Our research looks at customer service and interest rates, and many of the biggest banks haven't done well across either measure.
The lowest-scoring providers for customer service
We surveyed 6,008 UK adults who hold a personal savings account in August 2025 and asked them to rate their providers on overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend, to generate a customer score. We also asked customers to rate the providers out of five stars across a range of measures, including customer service and online banking.
The average score in our research was 70%, but many of the UK's biggest high-street banks scored well below this.
Virgin Money landed at the very bottom with the lowest overall customer score of 60%, earning only two stars for critical areas such as general customer service, ease of phone/chat contact, and branch service.
Close behind were Santander and Halifax, both tied with a customer score of 63%, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland, Post Office Money, NatWest and NS&I - all with a customer score of 64%.
Other big names rounding out the bottom half of the table with below-average scores were TSB (65%), Bank of Scotland (67%), Lloyds (67%), Metro Bank (67%), and HSBC (67%).
The lowest-scoring providers for interest rates
We also analyse interest rates to make sure we only recommend providers with good customer service and competitive rates.
We calculate an interest rate score by analysing rates over 12 weeks covering four product categories, and give each bank a score; the closer to 100% the better.
Of the 39 brands in our survey, Metro Bank offered the least competitive rates across the 12 weeks, scoring just 18%.
Metro Bank’s Instant Access Savings Account offered the poorest return on the market during Which?’s analysis, with an interest rate of just 0.9% AER - a rate it’s still offering the last time we checked (30 October).
| Bank name | Customer score | Interest rate score | Name of poor performing account (s) | Account type | AER (as of 30 October 2025) | AER during 12-week analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro Bank | 67% | 18% |
|
| 0.90% | 0.09% |
| HSBC | 67% | 27% |
|
| 1.15% | 1.33% |
| Lloyds Bank | 67% | 43% |
|
| 1.10% (both) | 1.20% (both) |
| Bank of Scotland | 67% | 43% |
|
| 1.10% (both) | 1.20% (both) |
| Barclays | 69% | 50% |
|
| 1.06% (both) |
|
| Santander | 63% | 51% |
|
| 2.00% (both) | 1.2% (both - increased since analysis) |
| Halifax | 63% | 55% |
|
| 1.10% (both) | 1.20% (both) |
The table illustrates interest rates offered by the lowest-scoring banks (by interest rate) at the time of analysis, along with the rates at the time of writing (30 October). The average customer score was 70%, and the average interest rate score was 76%.
HSBC, which had an interest rate score of 27%, Lloyds (43%), Bank of Scotland (43%), Barclays (50%), Santander (51%) and Halifax (55%), also performed poorly in our interest rate analysis.
HSBC was offering a Flexible Saver with 1.33% in the summer, which it has since cut to 1.15%. Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds were offering instant access accounts with just a 1.2% return during our analysis, which now pay even less at 1.1%.
Meanwhile, Barclays had an instant access savings account offering 1.16% and an instant access ISA paying 1.11% during the period of analysis - both accounts now pay 1.06%.
Of the banks with the lowest interest rate score, just Santander has made marginal improvements to its savings rates since the summer - its Easy Access Isa and Easy Access Isa have increased rates from 1.2% to 2% since the time of the analysis.
- Find out more: best savings accounts and providers
The new Which? Recommended Providers for savings
To earn the coveted title of a WRP for savings, banks and building societies must achieve an excellent combined customer satisfaction score and offer rates that are close to market-leading across a wide range of savings products.
This year, we have named eight WRPs for savings - many of which are lesser-known providers.
Here they are (in order of interest rate score):
- Kent Reliance ( Interest rate score: 93% / Customer score: 74%) - Kent Reliance has a decent customer score, but excelled in our interest rates analysis with the highest interest rate score of all the WRPs. It offers a variety of easy-access, notice, and fixed accounts, as well as regular savers and cash ISAs.
- Charter Savings Bank (Interest rate score: 90% / Customer score: 82%) - This digital bank achieved the highest overall customer score of the 39 providers in our survey and earned a five-star rating for its customer service and online banking. It also secured one of the best interest rate scores, which means it offered near market-leading rates during our analysis.
- Leeds Building Society (Interest rate score: 87% / Customer score: 77%) - Leeds customers gave it the full five stars for its customer service and communication, and its interest rate score shows it can be competitive on rates. This brand's branch access was also valued by customers in our survey.
- Aldermore (Interest rate score: 85% / Customer score: 74%) - The bank earns a WRP title this year by offering a wide range of savings products, all with above-average rates during our analysis. Savers gave it four stars for customer service and communication, and five stars for online banking.
- Yorkshire Building Society (Interest rate score: 84% / Customer score: 73%) - Yorkshire Building Society is a WRP again in 2025. Customers told us they loved the branch access, and it also offers the widest range of savings products among the WRPs.
- Marcus by Goldman Sachs (Interest rate score: 83% / Customer score: 75%) - Returning as a WRP for the fifth year running, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, an online and app-based bank, offers savers cash Isas, fixed savings and easy access products - each with consistently competitive rates according to our analysis.
- Skipton Building Society (Interest rate score: 82% / Customer score: 74%) - Skipton offers a range of savings products from easy-access to five-year fixes, and both cash and stocks & shares Isas. Savers gave it five stars for customer service and four stars for its online banking experience and communications.
- Zopa (Interest rate score: 80% / Customer score: 74%) -The digital bank secures the WRP title for the fourth time by continuing to offer good customer service and above-average interest rates across its Smart Saver products.
For our full results, including rankings of savings providers, see our guide to the best savings accounts and providers.
About our research
Which? surveyed 6,008 UK adults who hold a personal savings account in August 2025. The fieldwork was carried out online by Deltapoll, and the data has been weighted to be representative of people who hold a savings account.
The interest rate score is calculated from 12 weeks of Moneyfacts data collected between 6 June to 22 August 2025. Our analysis covered four product categories, which included: One-Year Fixed Savings, One-Year Cash Isa, Instant Access Savings and Instant Access Cash Isa.
To work out each bank's score, we compared their best interest rate each week against the market leader's rate. The bank's total interest rate score is then the average of its scores across all the different savings categories it offers.
