Cash ISA shame as top providers pay 0.1% - papers

Savers are being urged to review their cash Isa accounts because many former top payers are now paying a paltry 0.1pc, reports The Telegraph.

More than £25bn was invested in cash Isas last year alone - yet much of that money will be sitting in accounts paying less than Bank Rate of 0.5pc.

Providers rely on customer inertia and only tend to offer the best rates on new money for the current tax year. Rates on existing cash Isa have fallen because of the rate cuts imposed by the Bank of England over the past few months.

Barclays Cash Isa for lats year's savers, for example, pays just 0.1pc but its new Golden Isa pays a decent 3.61pc.

Experts said that the main message for savers is that they need to monitor the current savings deal that they're getting - be it a Cash Isa or another type of account - is still competitive and, if not, switch to another account. Full story...

HOPES ARE MOUNTING the worst of the recession is over for Britain, after influential organisations and investors said that there were clear signs of economic recovery, reports The Times.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said yesterday there were indications that the country was experiencing a "pause in the economic slowdown".

The multibillionaire investor George Soros echoed the positive forecast, saying that a meltdown of the world's financial system had been averted. Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the European Central Bank, said that some countries had already moved beyond the worst of their recessions.

Activity in the British housing market has also picked up. Estate agents said that there were more inquiries from new buyers last month than at any time in the past ten years, as they were tempted out by the low prices and good weather. The upbeat mood was also evident on the high street, where like-for-like sales jumped by 4.6 per cent in April. Full story...