Sorry, I don't understand this post at all. How is Anglo + 2% better than AIB +2.5%. Is it that Anglo's rate always floats +2% while AIB just happens to be +2.5% atm ? i.e. AIB's rate is better today but if the ECB rate were to rise, Anglo's rate would exceed AIB's ?
AIB's rate is not better today! For most regular saver accounts there is a minimum interest rate and a current interest rate. The minimum is the lowest that the rate can go to and its usually linked to ECB, as in Anglo and AIB. However,
usually the rates are above this (and dont change that often).
The Anglo current rate is 5%, which is above the minimum and has been like this for a few months. The current AIB rate is 3.5%, which is just above its specified minimum. So you can see that at the moment the Anglo rate is higher, even though AIB has a high
minimum.
If the ECB were to rise the
minimum of both would rise accordingly, although each bank again can raise or lower the rate as long as they are above this. For example, the Anlgo rate about a year ago was 8%. They lowered this back to 5%, which was allowed at its still above the minimum. Similarly, the AIB one was 5% and they lowered it to 3.5%.
You need to keep an eye on the
current rate as well as the minimum rate.