The Bank of England Bank Rate, often simply referred to as the base rate, is the interest rate at which the Bank of England lends money to commercial banks. It serves as a benchmark for all other interest rates in the economy, influencing the rates that banks offer on their lending and savings products.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), a group within the Bank of England, sets the base rate based on economic conditions, with the primary aim of managing inflation. MPC decisions are widely reported on and their meeting notes are a matter of public record.

Yes. There are no fees or charges for holding this account. Please see our pricing page for general fee information. Please note that our Saving Plans features do carry fees.  

Yes, the Chip Instant Access Account rate is variable. That means we can change it up or down at our discretion.

You’ll have likely seen that we aim to follow movements from the Bank of England base rate of interest, but we’ll also take the easy-access savings market into consideration too, in order to ensure Chip customers always get a competitive rate of interest.

Should Chip set a date to lower the interest rate, you will be given a minimum of 14 days’ notice. You may receive less notice if the rate increases.

The eligible balance of your account has Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection up to £85,000, which also includes the interest accredited to the account each month. You can read more about how we protect your money here.

Yes, you can autosave directly into this account (Savings Plans settings can be found on the profile tab) and also perform manual saves at any time should you wish by selecting the account in the savings tab and tapping ‘deposit’. Saves into this account also count toward your in-app savings goals that you can set up in the ‘Goals’ tab. Please see our pricing plan page for further information.

You can open and manage any savings account in Chip on behalf of someone else, but you will need Power of Attorney over the account holder’s financial affairs. In order to set up or manage an account for someone using Power of Attorney you will need to talk to our customer support team via in-app chat or by emailing hello@getchip.uk

‍The team will walk you through the process, but they will ask for a few documents to prove you have Power of Attorney:

- An ID document of both you (the person acting as Attorney) and the account holder
- A proof of address for you (the person acting as Attorney)
- A Lasting Power of Attorney document (LPA) for Property and Financial Affairs