Monday, 28 July 2025

THE CONTINUOUS PAYMENTS RACKET


THE RULES
If you agree to make a payment or series of payments on your debit or credit card you can cancel future payments by telling your bank or card provider which must stop them at once. You do not have to tell the firm that takes the payments though it is sensible to do so if you can.

In the past just about every bank and credit card provider in the UK has told customers they cannot do that and given them false information about their rights to cancel payments on credit and debit cards.

Those rights have existed since 1 November 2009 but in 2025 some banks are still getting them wrong.

As long ago as 28 June 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority confirmed the advice which has been given in this blog since April 2012. The FCA says:

"high street banks and mutuals...have agreed that they will ensure that when a customer asks for a recurring payment to end - that will be sufficient to cancel the arrangement.  They have also confirmed that should a payment go through by mistake following cancellation by a customer the customer will be refunded immediately."

It now has a useful guide to these payments and what to do. 

CONTINUOUS PAYMENTS
These payments are called ‘continuous payment authorities’ or ‘recurring payments’. I will call them CPAs. They are NOT direct debits or standing orders which are regular payments from your current account and are covered by separate rules. You have always been able to stop a direct debit or standing order just by telling your bank. And nowadays CPAs can be stopped that way too. 

A CPA is an agreement you make with a retailer, hotel, gym, insurance company, lender or other firm providing you with a service (they are all called ‘merchants’ in the bank jargon). You give the merchant permission to take money from a credit card or a debit card. Even though the debit card money comes out of your current account it is NOT a direct debit – it is a CPA.

The agreement can be made over the phone or online and it allows the merchant to take money in the future off your card. You normally have no control over the amount that is taken or when – it can be any amount at any time.

In some cases these CPAs are a scam – you think you are buying one item online only to find that you are committed to paying monthly for years. In other cases payday loan companies will store your details and recover future debts using the original card details. Even subscriptions to gyms, publications or insurance premiums are taken through a CPA because the merchant believes it puts them in control of when the payment is cancelled.

In the past it was very difficult to stop these payments. Originally CPAs could only be stopped by the merchant. If you went to your bank or card company it would say that it could do nothing and advise you to contact the merchant to stop the payment. If the merchant refused the bank or card provider would continue to allow the merchant to take your money.

That changed more than 15 years ago on 1 November 2009 when a new law came into force. They were called the Payment Services Regulations 2009 and are now the Payments Services Regulations 2017. Regulation 67 makes it clear that your bank or card provider has to stop the payments if you ask it to do so regardless of whether you have told the merchant.

If the bank or card provider does not obey your instructions then it has to refund any subsequent payment it allows to be taken from your account. And if a subsequent payment causes you to incur any fees – such as an overdraft charge or a late payment fee – or to lose any interest, then those losses have to be refunded too.

Despite that change in the law many years ago listeners and readers still tell me that their bank has wrongly told them that they can only cancel the payment through the merchant. In the past that has included all the major bank and credit cardproviders. But it is not true and has not been true for years. 

Some banks have even advised in the past that the only way to stop the payment is to close the account and cut up the card. Not only is that advice wrong it may not work. Visa and Mastercard can let merchants track you and move the agreement to a card you take out in the future. It has also been known for a bank or credit card provider to try to recover the money – and penalty charges – from customers who have cancelled a card.

Some banks have admitted to me in the past that they have given customers the wrong information. If yours does that, refer them to Regulation 67!

Cancelling a CPA
Tell your bank or card provider that you have a CPA, name the merchant and give any other details you can such as how the payment appears on your statement and, if you know, the dates and times when the payment is normally taken. Tell the bank that you cancel that payment authority with immediate effect. Quote regulation 67 of the Payment Services Regulations 2017. And if necessary mention that useful guide I referred to earlier. 

You can give this instruction on the phone, through an online message, by email, by letter, or at a personal visit to a branch. It is best to do it in writing but always make a note of the time and date when you give the instruction.

If a payment from that merchant is taken in future, contact the bank again and say you want that money (and any penalties or losses it may have caused you to incur) refunded immediately under regulation 76.

If the bank or card provider refuses to do so, or fails to do so after eight weeks, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk or call 0800 023 4567. The FOS will almost certainly take your side in the dispute.

If you have told your bank to cancel a CPA in the past
If your bank or card provider has failed to act on your instructions to cancel a CPA at any time since 1 November 2009 you should be able to get back all the payments taken from your account since you gave that instruction. The bank or card provider has to refund them to you. You should also get back any penalties that the transaction led you to incur such as an overdraft charge or a late payment fee and any loss of interest.

The FCA confirmed this in a previous statement

"the largest banks and mutuals have agreed to review every individual complaint they have received about the non-cancellation of a CPA and to pay redress where payments have continued to be made despite the customer cancelling the arrangement. This applies to all complaints since November 2009 when the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the FCA’s predecessor, began regulating banking conduct."

The rules depend on when you gave the instruction – it must always be on or after 1 November 2009 – and when the payment was made.

Payments made in the last 13 months.  
Tell the bank or card provider
·         That you gave a clear instruction to cancel the payment on a particular date
·         That the payment made was after that date and was therefore unauthorised under reg.67(3) and 67(4)of the Payment Services Regulations 2017
·         That you are entitled to an immediate refund of the amount and any penalties under reg. 61
·         That the event occurred less than 13 months ago as specified in reg.59(a)

Payments taken earlier than 13 months ago
Tell the bank or card provider
·         That you gave a clear instruction to cancel the payment on a particular date (which must be 1 November 2009 or later).
·         That the payment was unauthorised under reg.67(3) and 67(4) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017
·         That you are entitled to redress under reg. 76
·         That under reg. 74 the thirteen month time limit does not apply because the bank or card provider failed to give you adequate information under Part 6 of the Regulations.

You should also add that the bank or card provider has a duty to treat you fairly and to give information which is clear, fair and not misleading. Remind it too of its Custommre Duty. When you asked it to cancel the payment it failed to explain your rights correctly thus preventing you from taking the correct action at the right time.

If the bank refuses take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service – details above.

The law
The law is in the Payment Services Regulations 2017

Regulation 67 (3) "The payer may withdraw its consent to a payment transaction at any time before the point at which the payment order can no longer be revoked …  (4) …the payer may withdraw its consent to the execution of a series of payment transactions at any time with the effect that any future payment transactions are not regarded as authorised for the purposes of this Part."

Regulation 76(1) makes it clear that where a payment was not authorised the provider must "immediately— (a) refund the amount of the unauthorised payment transaction to the payer;
And must also (b)… restore the debited payment account to the state it would have been in had the unauthorised payment transaction not taken place.”

In other words it has to refund any penalties that have been incurred.

The time limit for a refund is set down in regulation 74 which says the customer

74(1) ...is entitled to redress…only if [they] notif[y] the payment service provider without undue delay, and in any event no later than 13 months after the debit date, on becoming aware of any unauthorised or incorrectly executed payment transaction.

However 74(2) states that the 13 month limit may be waived if the provider has not given the relevant information to the customer. That information is set down in Part 6 of the Regulations.

FCA guidance
The Financial Conduct Authority and its predecessor the Financial Services Authority issued guidance on how the Regulations should be implemented. This is from 2012.

“However, it is best practice for the customer to be advised that notice of the withdrawal of consent should also be given to the payee, because the PSRs. [Payment Services Regulations] do not address the payer’s underlying liability under the terms of any contract they have signed.  For the avoidance of doubt, it is not acceptable for the payment service provider to make withdrawal of consent dependent on notice having been given to the merchant.”

It also clarifies that consent can be withdrawn up to the day before the payment is due

"For future dated payments, the latest point at which the payer can revoke the payment
instruction is the close of business on the day before the payment is due to be made, or if the payment transaction is to be made when funds are available, close of business on the day before those funds become available."

It also warns "Be aware, though, that you will still be responsible for paying any money that you owe."

Conclusion
Despite what a bank or credit card provider may tell you you can cancel a continuous payment authority on a debit or credit card simply by telling your bank or card provider. And it must act on your instruction at once.

28 July 2025
Version 2.0 
36,998

Thursday, 12 June 2025

Winter Fuel payment 2025/26

 

WINTER FUEL PAYMENT 2025/26

 England and Wales

Qualifying

·       Everyone aged 66 by 21 September this year – born 21/9/1959 or before – will get the Winter Fuel Payment in Nov/Dec 2025. It will be paid automatically into your bank account without a claim. Ignore any emails or messages inviting you to claim it. They are from thieves. Don’t click on any links and delete them. 

·        However, a very few who have not claimed their state pension, have never worked in the UK, or have legally arrived in the UK recently may not be known to the Department for Work and Pensions. They will be missed and will have to claim. You can’t claim yet. But later in the year go to gov.uk and search ‘winter fuel payment’. The deadline is March 2026

·                How much

      The Payment is £200 per household where one or both is aged 66 to 79 and £300 if one or both are over 80 - born 21/9/45 or earlier.

·        Couples not on means-tested benefits will get half each, so either £100 or £150 each.  

      For a couple where one claims a means-tested benefit, the whole amount will be paid to that person

·        People in care homes will get the Winter Fuel Payment as long as they do not claim any means-tested benefit there. They will get the half payment - £100 aged 66-79 and £150 aged 80 or more. If they get a means-tested benefit they will not get the payment.

People living outside the UK cannot get the Winter Fuel Payment. In Winter 2023/24 and earlier it was payable to some people in the EEA and before that in parts of the EU and before that throughout the EU, but that is no longer the case.

Taking it back

·        Individuals who get Winter Fuel Payment who have a taxable income above £35,000 in 2025/26 will have their Winter Fuel Payment taken back in full through their income tax in 2026/27. That will be done through their tax code. A very few of them who cannot have it recovered that way but do self-assessment will pay it back through that. HMRC says that it will all be done automatically without the need to register or take any action. Details are promised within the next month.

·        Taxable income includes all money that counts, or could count, towards income tax due in a year. Earnings, state pension, pensions from a job, retirement annuities, personal pensions, drawdown from a SIPP, taxable social security benefits such as widow's benefit, carers allowance, and incapacity benefit, rental income (but not up to £7500 a year from rent-a-room), interest on savings, and dividends will all be counted. Savings interest and dividends are counted in full including the amount within the £1000 or £500 personal savings allowance or the £500 dividend allowance. Interest on ISA savings and dividends on ISA investments are not taxable and do not count as taxable income. Nor does any profit made on trading or property covered by the £1000 trading and property allowances. Premium Bond prizes do not count as taxable income. Capital gains are not counted as income. Non-taxable benefits such as attendance allowance will not be counted as income.

      HMRC will not say whether paying into a personal pension or using salary sacrifice will reduce the income that counts towards the threshold.

·        There will be no assessment of household incomes. So a low-income husband may keep £100 and his high income wife may have her £100 taken back through her tax. Or £150 if one of them is over 80.

·        There will be no assessment of capital so the value of a home or savings or investments or property will not be counted. So some ‘millionaires’ in the broadest definition will still get it even if their home or savings or both together exceed £1 million but their individual taxable income is £35,000 or below.

·        Government says about two million will have it taken back and more than 9 million will keep it.

·        Government says the threshold of £35,000 was chosen to ensure all who need it get it and it is ‘broadly in line with average earnings’.

·        Nine million pensioners to receive Winter Fuel Payments this winter - GOV.UK

 

Northern Ireland

·        Last winter, Northern Ireland implemented the pension credit means-test for the Winter Fuel Payment, but in addition gave £100 to every pensioner of qualifying age who did not get the payment.

·        This winter it will follow the England and Wales rules, the Communities Minister has confirmed.

·        Stormont confirms Winter Fuel Payment reinstated for Northern Ireland | BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

 

Scotland

·        From this winter the payment will be called the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment. It was due to be based on the England and Wales scheme as it was last year, ie confined to those on pension credit, but with £100 for all pensioners who did not qualify for that. 

      However, it will now follow the new scheme in the rest of the UK but with payments of £203.40 aged 66-79 and £305.10 aged 80 or more. The extra amounts reflect a 1.7% increase on last year’s payments, in line with last September’s inflation which was used to raise other benefits. As in rest of UK the payment will be given to all and then recouped from those with an income over £35,000 in 2025/26. The mechanism for recovering the money is under discussion but will probably also follow the rest of the UK. The £100 payment for all who don't qualify has been scrapped. Official gov.scot announcement here.  


Paul Lewis

1 July 2025

Version 1.56

Thursday, 22 May 2025

ACTIVELY MANAGED CASH BEATS INFLATION

 CASH VERSUS INFLATION

Tell any financial adviser you prefer cash because it gives a guaranteed return and chances are they will tell you the only thing guaranteed is that you will lose money because it will be eaten away by inflation. And if you reply 'yes but I don’t want to take a risk' the response will be that there is a risk with cash – indeed a certainty – that your savings will worth less in real terms when you take them out than when you put them in.

This research shows that advice is generally wrong, at least for those who actively manage their cash deposits. So financial advisers should be very cautious in telling clients those things. It may be seen as not treating them fairly or fulfilling their consumer duty. This blogpost will help them get it right.


The numbers

Cash returns and inflation can be measured precisely over the past. Some numbers go back to the 1990s and there are detailed figures for the whole of this century. But there are choices to be made.

First, how do we measure cash returns? On the face of it there is a plethora of different ones. Every bank and building society decides on the interest rate it pays and the latest Moneyfacts for May 2025 devotes ten pages to around 150 different institutions which can each offer 80 or more rates on different sorts of savings. Even its Savings Selection page of the accounts with the highest rates has eight tables with a total of 304 cells each of which can show a different rate.

So Active Cash™ - which I trademarked in 2016 - has one simple rule. You pick the best one-year fixed rate deposit account - often called a bond - and when it reaches its term use the money from it to buy the best bond then. It is a simple rule and takes just a few minutes once a year to implement – go online and find the best buy one year bond and put your money in it. With faster payments the money can come out of one bond and go into next year’s choice on the same day.

The figures used in this analysis are from Moneyfacts ‘Savings Selection’ page. They are the best rate in the '1 Yr' column of the table for fixed rate accounts. I am grateful to the money data firm for giving me access to the rates paid on the best buy one year bond each month from January 1995 – more than 30 years of data. They can be found here.

Second, how do we measure inflation? The Retail Prices Index (RPI) was the preferred choice until April 2011 when George Osborne changed the official measure to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). Nowadays the Office for National Statistics (ONS) boffins prefer CPIH which includes housing costs. For simplicity, I have picked CPI which ONS has back-calculated as far as we need it and the monthly percentage rise in prices over the previous 12 months is easy to download from the Office for National Statistics website.

With those choices made, comparing Active Cash™ rates with CPI inflation needs just two columns of numbers for each month.


The comparison

For each starting month I have calculated the return on Active Cash™ over a set number of years and compared the return with the rise in the CPI over that same period. If the total Active Cash™ percentage return is bigger than CPI then at the end of the period your money is worth more. If it is smaller then it is worth less. I picked one, two, three, four, five, and ten years.

For example, if you put £1000 into the best one year bond in October 2003 the interest rate is 4.6% so by October 2004 it would be worth £1046. But inflation over that period to October 2004 was 1.2% so the real value of your money after a year is £1033.60. If you then go on to put that £1046 into a best buy one year bond and again and again over five years by October 2008 your £1000 would have grown 30.616% to £1,306.16 but inflation over that period was 13.109% so the real value of your £1000 after five years was £1154.78 a real terms increase of £154.78. Over ten years the real terms increase by October 2013 would be £223.65. The calculations show that for any starting month before March 2009 and over any of the periods Active Cash™ beats CPI inflation.

For later years that is no longer true. Put £1000 into the best buy one year bond in July 2020 then the real value of that after one year would be £991.18, after three years would be £874.43, and after four years would be £906.95. So it is clear that with some starting months your cash will grow in real terms but in others it will shrink.


Over time

To see the outcome over many years I picked two periods – this century which means buying a one year bond starting each month from January 2000. And the last sixteen years – doing the same from March 2009. That month was picked because it is the first for which the return on Active Cash™ fell below inflation. From that date the calculations show many starting months when it beats inflation and many when it does not. It is a simple matter to count each outcome.

From January 2000 Active Cash™ beat inflation in all five periods of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 years. The worst period was 2 years at 71% of the starting months; the best was 85% of the starting months over ten years.

Taking the first quarter of this century, the average real (after inflation) return on £1000 invested each month is a compound increase of around 1%. So active cash does beat inflation.

From 1 March 2009 Active Cash™ also beat inflation in all five periods. The range was 51% (two years) to 64% (five years) of the starting months. In other words, stick a pin in a random start month and a random period and Active Cash™ is more likely to beat inflation than not.

From January 1995 to February 2009 Active Cash™ beats inflation in every single starting month over all five periods for as long as these records go back. So before March 2009 cash managed this way always beat inflation.

From March 2009 the results become mixed. The financial crisis of 2008 led to a period of high inflation and then historically very low interest rates and there was very high inflation in 2022. So there are blocks of time where cash does not beat inflation.

Now in 2025 we may be entering a different and more normal era. From August 2022 Active Cash™ beat inflation over two years for every starting month. And over one year for every starting month from November 2022 buying a best buy bond has outperformed inflation. In that month the best buy bond paid 4.5% and when it matured in November 2023 inflation over the 12 months it had been held was just 3.9% so it beat inflation and that has been true in each of the eighteen months since up to April 2025.

When an adviser tells you that you are bound to lose money in real terms with cash it is simply not true overall if you manage it properly. And for that, Active Cash™ is the key.


FURTHER ANALYSIS

Behaviour

The biggest problem with this analysis is that Active Cash™ is not how most people behave. If you leave your money languishing in an average account either as a one year bond or in an easy access account then the figures are very different.

Easy access is generally the worse. Using Bank of England figures for what it calls ‘sight deposits’ which you can take out whenever you want and which pay variable interest rates, the best that cash can do from 2000 is beat inflation 43% of the time over one year and the worst is just 8% of the time over ten years. Since March 2009 it is better at the most for only 14% of the time and over longer periods it is never better. This analysis assumes that the interest paid remains at the average for the whole 12 months. That is not normally true but the effect is unlikely to change the overall picture.

There is £280 billion in bank accounts that pay no interest. That money is indeed guaranteed to lose its value over any period, even one month.

Buying an average one year bond each year does better than average sight deposits, but of course not as well as buying the best. Using Bank of England numbers for the average rate paid on one year bonds you would still beat inflation for bonds bought in most months of this century – 52% to 59% of months would do that depending on the period over which you did it. But from March 2009 the figures are much worse. Over ten years a bond bought in any starting month would not beat inflation and over the shorter periods only between 38% (one year) and 14% (five years) would beat inflation.


Protection

People with a lot of cash savings face another problem with Active Cash™ – there is an £85,000 compensation limit if the bank or building society where their money is saved goes bust. Very cautious people split their savings so that no bank or building society has more than that in it. That means of course that not all their money can be in the best buy account. However, the difference between the top five is not great – it currently ranges from 4.52% to 4.4%, all still comfortably above inflation which has just hit 3.5% and which the Bank of England predicts will stay high this year before falling again. In December it is expected that the deposit protection limit will rise to £110,000 so people with £500,000 will be able to safely earn above inflation increases in their cash deposits spread over the top five accounts.

 

Tax

The figures take no account of income tax that may be due on the interest. For basic rate taxpayers there is a £1000 tax-free savings allowance and they would need more than around £22,000 in savings to currently earn enough interest to exceed the £1000 allowance where tax is due. For a higher rate taxpayer the figure is half that as the allowance is just £500. Tax could be mitigated by using Active Cash™ techniques on cash ISAs where the interest is all tax-free. But there is a limit on putting money into a cash ISA - currently £20,000 a year. And no long-term data is available to allow the ISA calculations to be done. Cash ISAs currently pay interest at very similar levels to taxable savings accounts but that has not always been the case.

Inflation choice

CPI was chosen because it is the current standard way of measuring inflation. The calculations could also be done using

  •        RPI
  •          RPI until March 2011 and CPI from April 2011
  •          CPIH as back calculated by ONS.

Putting these rates into the calculations does not materially affect the outcomes overall, though of course with a measure that gives higher inflation, Active Cash™ beats it less often.


Paul Lewis

Version 1.21 errors corrected and brought up to date with latest inflation (April 2025)

22 May 2025 

 

Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Best buy bond rates 1995 to 2025

Rates of the best buy, one year, fixed rate, deposit accounts (one year bonds) in UK registered banks and building societies. Data taken from the Savings Selection page of Moneyfacts which kindly allowed me to retrieve the data from 1995. This is the data used - together with Consumer Prices Index (CPI) available from the ONS website - in my Active Cash vs inflation blogpost 

These rates are of course different from the average one year bond rates published by the Bank of England and very different from those paid by average easy access deposit accounts.

Active Cash™ means buying the best one year bond, then when it comes to term using the proceeds to buy the best buy one year bond at that time. Because these are one year fixed rate bonds the rate is guaranteed for the 12 months. So the CPI comparison is the figure at the end of the bond's life. For example a bond bought on 1 January 2000 has to beat the inflation rate to January 2001. Over this period my research summarised in the blogpost shows it usually does.

Buy bond on

Best Buy rate

01 Jan 1995

7.50%

01 Feb 1995

8.00%

01 Mar 1995

7.50%

01 Apr 1995

8.00%

01 May 1995

7.25%

01 Jun 1995

7.00%

01 Jul 1995

7.00%

01 Aug 1995

7.00%

01 Sep 1995

7.00%

01 Oct 1995

6.50%

01 Nov 1995

6.65%

01 Dec 1995

6.50%

01 Jan 1996

6.50%

01 Feb 1996

6.25%

01 Mar 1996

6.00%

01 Apr 1996

6.00%

01 May 1996

6.10%

01 Jun 1996

6.30%

01 Jul 1996

6.30%

01 Aug 1996

6.60%

01 Sep 1996

6.50%

01 Oct 1996

6.65%

01 Nov 1996

6.30%

01 Dec 1996

6.75%

01 Jan 1997

6.60%

01 Feb 1997

6.75%

01 Mar 1997

6.40%

01 Apr 1997

6.30%

01 May 1997

7.00%

01 Jun 1997

7.00%

01 Jul 1997

7.10%

01 Aug 1997

7.20%

01 Sep 1997

7.25%

01 Oct 1997

7.25%

01 Nov 1997

7.25%

01 Dec 1997

7.80%

01 Jan 1998

7.85%

01 Feb 1998

7.75%

01 Mar 1998

7.80%

01 Apr 1998

7.75%

01 May 1998

7.75%

01 Jun 1998

7.75%

01 Jul 1998

8.00%

01 Aug 1998

7.80%

01 Sep 1998

7.75%

01 Oct 1998

7.40%

01 Nov 1998

7.25%

01 Dec 1998

6.90%

01 Jan 1999

6.00%

01 Feb 1999

6.00%

01 Mar 1999

5.50%

01 Apr 1999

5.45%

01 May 1999

5.25%

01 Jun 1999

5.25%

01 Jul 1999

5.65%

01 Aug 1999

5.65%

01 Sep 1999

6.25%

01 Oct 1999

6.50%

01 Nov 1999

6.63%

01 Dec 1999

6.63%

01 Jan 2000

6.75%

01 Feb 2000

7.00%

01 Mar 2000

7.00%

01 Apr 2000

7.10%

01 May 2000

7.00%

01 Jun 2000

7.00%

01 Jul 2000

6.88%

01 Aug 2000

6.88%

01 Sep 2000

6.70%

01 Oct 2000

6.65%

01 Nov 2000

7.10%

01 Dec 2000

6.55%

01 Jan 2001

7.00%

01 Feb 2001

6.15%

01 Mar 2001

6.00%

01 Apr 2001

6.10%

01 May 2001

5.65%

01 Jun 2001

5.85%

01 Jul 2001

6.10%

01 Aug 2001

5.65%

01 Sep 2001

5.75%

01 Oct 2001

5.25%

01 Nov 2001

4.75%

01 Dec 2001

4.25%

01 Jan 2002

4.20%

01 Feb 2002

4.50%

01 Mar 2002

5.00%

01 Apr 2002

4.75%

01 May 2002

5.00%

01 Jun 2002

5.10%

01 Jul 2002

4.80%

01 Aug 2002

4.70%

01 Sep 2002

4.20%

01 Oct 2002

4.20%

01 Nov 2002

4.10%

01 Dec 2002

4.31%

01 Jan 2003

4.15%

01 Feb 2003

4.15%

01 Mar 2003

4.00%

01 Apr 2003

4.10%

01 May 2003

4.00%

01 Jun 2003

3.95%

01 Jul 2003

4.00%

01 Aug 2003

4.15%

01 Sep 2003

4.41%

01 Oct 2003

4.60%

01 Nov 2003

4.72%

01 Dec 2003

4.87%

01 Jan 2004

4.85%

01 Feb 2004

4.75%

01 Mar 2004

4.80%

01 Apr 2004

5.05%

01 May 2004

5.16%

01 Jun 2004

5.45%

01 Jul 2004

5.61%

01 Aug 2004

5.61%

01 Sep 2004

5.60%

01 Oct 2004

5.30%

01 Nov 2004

5.25%

01 Dec 2004

5.26%

01 Jan 2005

5.14%

01 Feb 2005

5.10%

01 Mar 2005

5.40%

01 Apr 2005

5.40%

01 May 2005

5.27%

01 Jun 2005

5.17%

01 Jul 2005

5.05%

01 Aug 2005

5.06%

01 Sep 2005

5.00%

01 Oct 2005

5.05%

01 Nov 2005

5.05%

01 Dec 2005

5.05%

01 Jan 2006

5.00%

01 Feb 2006

5.00%

01 Mar 2006

5.00%

01 Apr 2006

5.00%

01 May 2006

4.95%

01 Jun 2006

5.25%

01 Jul 2006

5.25%

01 Aug 2006

5.45%

01 Sep 2006

5.50%

01 Oct 2006

5.60%

01 Nov 2006

5.30%

01 Dec 2006

5.90%

01 Jan 2007

5.85%

01 Feb 2007

6.05%

01 Mar 2007

6.00%

01 Apr 2007

6.00%

01 May 2007

6.23%

01 Jun 2007

6.45%

01 Jul 2007

6.53%

01 Aug 2007

6.70%

01 Sep 2007

6.70%

01 Oct 2007

6.90%

01 Nov 2007

6.86%

01 Dec 2007

6.75%

01 Jan 2008

6.85%

01 Feb 2008

6.75%

01 Mar 2008

6.75%

01 Apr 2008

6.70%

01 May 2008

7.01%

01 Jun 2008

7.10%

01 Jul 2008

7.15%

01 Aug 2008

7.20%

01 Sep 2008

7.20%

01 Oct 2008

7.21%

01 Nov 2008

7.10%

01 Dec 2008

5.75%

01 Jan 2009

5.10%

01 Feb 2009

4.30%

01 Mar 2009

3.90%

01 Apr 2009

3.90%

01 May 2009

3.74%

01 Jun 2009

3.91%

01 Jul 2009

3.70%

01 Aug 2009

3.85%

01 Sep 2009

3.85%

01 Oct 2009

3.70%

01 Nov 2009

3.70%

01 Dec 2009

3.70%

01 Jan 2010

3.65%

01 Feb 2010

3.65%

01 Mar 2010

3.30%

01 Apr 2010

3.30%

01 May 2010

3.25%

01 Jun 2010

3.25%

01 Jul 2010

3.00%

01 Aug 2010

3.01%

01 Sep 2010

3.01%

01 Oct 2010

3.00%

01 Nov 2010

3.10%

01 Dec 2010

3.05%

01 Jan 2011

3.25%

01 Feb 2011

3.25%

01 Mar 2011

3.40%

01 Apr 2011

3.40%

01 May 2011

3.50%

01 Jun 2011

3.51%

01 Jul 2011

3.51%

01 Aug 2011

3.51%

01 Sep 2011

3.51%

01 Oct 2011

3.51%

01 Nov 2011

3.55%

01 Dec 2011

3.60%

01 Jan 2012

3.60%

01 Feb 2012

3.60%

01 Mar 2012

3.55%

01 Apr 2012

3.55%

01 May 2012

3.50%

01 Jun 2012

3.45%

01 Jul 2012

3.50%

01 Aug 2012

3.45%

01 Sep 2012

3.45%

01 Oct 2012

3.20%

01 Nov 2012

3.00%

01 Dec 2012

2.75%

01 Jan 2013

2.39%

01 Feb 2013

2.25%

01 Mar 2013

2.31%

01 Apr 2013

2.25%

01 May 2013

2.15%

01 Jun 2013

2.00%

01 Jul 2013

1.99%

01 Aug 2013

2.05%

01 Sep 2013

2.03%

01 Oct 2013

2.00%

01 Nov 2013

2.00%

01 Dec 2013

1.95%

01 Jan 2014

2.00%

01 Feb 2014

2.05%

01 Mar 2014

1.90%

01 Apr 2014

1.90%

01 May 2014

2.00%

01 Jun 2014

2.00%

01 Jul 2014

1.90%

01 Aug 2014

2.00%

01 Sep 2014

2.00%

01 Oct 2014

2.00%

01 Nov 2014

2.00%

01 Dec 2014

2.00%

01 Jan 2015

2.00%

01 Feb 2015

2.00%

01 Mar 2015

2.00%

01 Apr 2015

2.00%

01 May 2015

2.00%

01 Jun 2015

2.00%

01 Jul 2015

2.00%

01 Aug 2015

2.06%

01 Sep 2015

2.10%

01 Oct 2015

2.10%

01 Nov 2015

2.10%

01 Dec 2015

2.15%

01 Jan 2016

2.15%

01 Feb 2016

2.15%

01 Mar 2016

2.15%

01 Apr 2016

2.15%

01 May 2016

1.98%

01 Jun 2016

1.80%

01 Jul 2016

1.80%

01 Aug 2016

1.66%

01 Sep 2016

1.40%

01 Oct 2016

1.40%

01 Nov 2016

1.40%

01 Dec 2016

1.40%

01 Jan 2017

1.40%

01 Feb 2017

1.40%

01 Mar 2017

2.00%

01 Apr 2017

1.60%

01 May 2017

1.55%

01 Jun 2017

1.60%

01 Jul 2017

2.00%

01 Aug 2017

2.00%

01 Sep 2017

1.95%

01 Oct 2017

1.95%

01 Nov 2017

2.00%

01 Dec 2017

2.00%

01 Jan 2018

1.85%

01 Feb 2018

1.90%

01 Mar 2018

1.95%

01 Apr 2018

1.85%

01 May 2018

1.95%

01 Jun 2018

2.00%

01 Jul 2018

2.05%

01 Aug 2018

2.10%

01 Sep 2018

2.05%

01 Oct 2018

2.05%

01 Nov 2018

2.05%

01 Dec 2018

2.05%

01 Jan 2019

2.10%

01 Feb 2019

2.15%

01 Mar 2019

2.20%

01 Apr 2019

2.20%

01 May 2019

2.20%

01 Jun 2019

2.20%

01 Jul 2019

2.20%

01 Aug 2019

2.20%

01 Sep 2019

2.10%

01 Oct 2019

2.05%

01 Nov 2019

2.05%

01 Dec 2019

1.90%

01 Jan 2020

1.80%

01 Feb 2020

1.75%

01 Mar 2020

1.70%

01 Apr 2020

1.60%

01 May 2020

1.60%

01 Jun 2020

1.45%

01 Jul 2020

1.10%

01 Aug 2020

1.05%

01 Sep 2020

1.22%

01 Oct 2020

1.26%

01 Nov 2020

1.08%

01 Dec 2020

1.10%

01 Jan 2021

1.00%

01 Feb 2021

0.85%

01 Mar 2021

0.65%

01 Apr 2021

0.65%

01 May 2021

0.63%

01 Jun 2021

0.90%

01 Jul 2021

1.01%

01 Aug 2021

1.10%

01 Sep 2021

1.41%

01 Oct 2021

1.51%

01 Nov 2021

1.45%

01 Dec 2021

1.36%

01 Jan 2022

1.41%

01 Feb 2022

1.40%

01 Mar 2022

1.50%

01 Apr 2022

2.05%

01 May 2022

2.10%

01 Jun 2022

2.34%

01 Jul 2022

2.70%

01 Aug 2022

2.83%

01 Sep 2022

3.21%

01 Oct 2022

3.91%

01 Nov 2022

4.50%

01 Dec 2022

4.36%

01 Jan 2023

4.31%

01 Feb 2023

4.33%

01 Mar 2023

4.40%

01 Apr 2023

4.48%

01 May 2023

4.81%

01 Jun 2023

5.06%

01 Jul 2023

6.00%

01 Aug 2023

6.05%

01 Sep 2023

6.20%

01 Oct 2023

6.05%

01 Nov 2023

6.11%

01 Dec 2023

5.80%

01 Jan 2024

5.66%

01 Feb 2024

5.16%

01 Mar 2024

5.21%

01 Apr 2024

5.23%

01 May 2024

5.17%

01 Jun 2024

5.22%

01 Jul 2024

5.22%

01 Aug 2024

5.40%

01 Sep 2024

5.25%

01 Oct 2024

5.00%

01 Nov 2024

5.00%

01 Dec 2024

4.80%

01 Jan 2025

4.80%

01 Feb 2025

4.77%

01 Mar 2025

4.65%

01 Apr 2025

4.67%

01 May 2025

4.65%

Paul Lewis

22 May 2025

Version 1.01