Yahoo Finance Building society stuns savers by pointing out rivals' better deals
In an unprecedented move, Britain's third-largest building society is telling its 1.8m members that they could be better off taking their custom elsewhere.
Even more astonishingly, it is pointing out precisely which of its rivals offer better rates.
Coventry Building Society has installed a tool on its website which allows customers to directly compare the rates it offers with those available elsewhere.
And the new feature, powered by comparison service Moneyfacts, reveals that there are far better rates on the market.
One competitor's easy access account, for instance, pays more than 10 times that of the Coventry.
The provider's Money Manager account pays a miniscule rate of 0.1pc. And yet it signposts customers to RCI Bank's Freedom Savings account which offers a top rate of 1.1pc.
Customers who switch to RCI Bank could earn £155 a year on savings of £15,000 instead of £15 with the Coventry.
The building society also reveals itself to be a far from great payer in the fixed rate savings market.
It offers a savings bond that matures in 2019 and pays 1.1pc. However, customers can see on the website that Atom Bank, the mobile provider, offers a two-year bond that pays 1.65pc.
This is the difference between earning £240 in a year on savings of £15,000 and £165.
With children's saving accounts the Coventry shows itself to be even less competitive.
Its Intro and Interest Zone accounts both pay 0.5pc, but the building society directs parents to HSBC's MySaver account which offers 2.75pc - over five times more.
On savings of £5,000 the Coventry pays just £25 a year. Children could earn £137.50 on the same balance.
However with Isas there is not much difference - the Coventry pays 0.9pc while Virgin Money offers 1.01pc.
The building society said it wants to offer "transparency" to customers and to show them when they could be getting a better deal with competitors.
Andrew Hagger, of Moneycomms, the personal finance site, said the new comparison tool was a "calculated move" by the provider.
The best savings options for children
He said the main users of the tool are likely to be customers of Coventry Building Societywho are unlikely to move their savings when rates are so low across the board.
Mr Hagger said: "Coventry has always been competitive and as such will be confident it won't be shown up too much.
"For most customers, the difference between the Coventry and competitors will be so small in terms of pounds and pence I don't think they will bother."
He added that he "wouldn't be surprised" if some providers followed the building society's lead and began to publish competitor accounts on their own websites. But only if they offer decent rates.
He said: "There wouldn't be much point in providers doing it if they weren't strong players."
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