COMMENT
One Million People Switch And Save

I'm the sort of person who likes to have a buffer zone of cash in both my personal and household bank accounts just in case the car goes wrong or the cat needs to go to the vet for some reason. I'm also the sort of person who likes to earn interest on those floating funds.

In the old days you'd be lucky to get 0.1% on money held in a current account - and some accounts continue to pay this paltry amount - but with banks competing for a bigger market share of customers, things have been changing in the last couple of years. The same goes for overdraft charges which, in some cases, have fallen below the 10% mark.

According to Moneyexpert.com, switching banks has now become so easy that 80,000 people a month do it, twice as many as did so five years ago. That's around 1m people a year! In the past, if you wanted to change your current account you had to contact every organisation you had a direct debit or standing order with, and inform them of your new banking details. Frankly, it was a hassle so hardly anyone did it.

Now you simply contact the bank you want to move to and they do the rest. On demand, your old bank has to hand over all the necessary information about direct debits and standing orders in three days.

So, which banks are offering the best deals at the moment? If you rarely go overdrawn, you should consider choosing the account that pays the highest rate of interest on balances. The current Best Buys are listed below: 

If you are regularly in the red, then choose an account with the lowest overdraft charges. See the Best Buy table below:

For the vast majority of people, the process of switching banks goes smoothly but if the idea of moving really doesn't appeal, most banks offer a variety of accounts. You may find you can switch to a better account without having to switch banks at all. 

> Find The Perfect Bank Account and switch banks via the Fool.