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Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban has pledged to push for all savings statements to publish the customer's current interest rate, in an interview with MoneySavingExpert.com.

The promise is the culmination of a campaign we started in 2009, where over 31,000 signed the 'savings summary box' petition on the Downing Street website (see the Thousands Demand Banks Come Clean MSE news story).

Providers have been accused of confusion marketing by not publishing rates. This leaves many people frustrated because they have to trawl through tedious numbers of internet pages or printed booklets to find their current rate.

Even when on a list of rates, many accounts have similar names, making it difficult to locate their true return.  This, coupled with banks' tendency to substantially drop rates on many older accounts, leaves many unaware they're stuck on pitiful returns.

Mark Hoban's promise

In an interview with MSE founder Martin Lewis, Hoban said changes were coming in December. 

He was referring to best practice guidance from the regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), that comes into force on 31 December 2011, which states providers "should" publish rates on statements. However, the FSA stresses this is guidance, not a cast-iron rule.

Asked by Martin whether he will push for publication on all savings accounts if these moves fail, Hoban said: "Yes, because I just think it's really important that people know what the interest rate is on their savings, so that way they can start to shop around.

"Something we're passionate about is making sure we use transparency to enable customers to shop around, to know how much they're being charged, what sort of returns they're getting."

The full interview will be published later this week on MoneySavingExpert.com.

The current plans

All banks and building societies have agreed to print rates on cash Isa statements by early 2012, following pressure from the Office of Fair Trading. Some banks, such as Lloyds TSB, have already added rates to all savings accounts but the practice is not widespread yet.

Martin Lewis says: "Banks have got away with this shoddy practice for far too long.  If they've got the technology to print the actual amount of interest earned on statements, they can certainly print the rate without too much hassle too.

"Every savings account statement should state the current interest rate without ambiguity.

"Pointing to a long list among scores of almost identical account names is simply not good enough. I am delighted the Government agrees.

"While the plans sound good, and should be applauded as a really positive step forward that helps savers, I am slightly concerned the planned changes are not all-encompassing as it is only guidance.

"Now Mr Hoban has pledged his unambiguous support on this, come December, we shall be monitoring carefully and if banks are not living up to their promise I will go back to him and see what his plans are to ensure it happens."

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