The rate to watch: the ECB deposit rate
The European Central Bank sets three interest rates for the euro area. The one that matters for savers is the deposit facility rate, the rate banks get for leaving money overnight with the central bank; the ECB has steered its monetary policy through this rate since March 2024 (ECB, key interest rates, checked 11 Oct 2026). When it goes up, banks earn more on money they leave with the central bank; when it goes down, they earn less.
The rate in the answer at the top of this page is read from the ECB's own data and updated daily. The ECB's Governing Council changes it at its monetary policy meetings, whose dates are published in advance on the ECB's meeting calendar. Until a decision is announced, any forecast of next year's savings rates is a guess.
How it reaches your savings account
Slowly, and only partly. De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) looked at what Dutch banks did with past ECB rises (DNB, 10 May 2023, checked 11 Oct 2026):
- Between 2005 and 2007 the ECB raised its rate by 2 percentage points. Two years after the first rise, the average Dutch household savings rate had gone up by almost 0.4 percentage points: about a fifth of the increase. Savings rates only started to rise about four months after the first ECB step.
- The reason, in DNB's words: banks face a trade-off between raising savings rates at once, which erodes their interest margin, and waiting, which may cause customers "to shop around and potentially withdraw their deposits".
- Mortgage rates follow faster and more fully. Savings rates react more slowly because almost all savings have a variable rate, so any change costs the bank on every euro at once.
Rates also differ a lot between banks at the same moment. This month's savings rates shows every account we track, highest first.
Variable and fixed rates
An ordinary savings account has a variable rate: the bank can change it, up or down, and an ECB move reaches it with the delay described above. A fixed-term deposit (spaardeposito) fixes the rate for the whole term, so an ECB cut during the term doesn't reach you, and neither does a rise. In exchange, the money is locked: some providers don't allow early withdrawal at all, others charge a fee. Each deposit's conditions are on its account's page; the one-year deposits are ranked here.
Fixing makes sense for money you won't need during the term. It is a bet in neither direction: you trade the chance of a higher rate later for certainty now.
What you can do instead of waiting
- Compare now. Because banks pass on so little, moving to a bank that pays more can matter more than the next ECB decision. The high-interest ranking orders accounts on the standard rate, the one that lasts.
- Read promotions carefully. A promotional rate ends after a set time, whatever the ECB does. Each account's page says when.
- Stay inside the deposit guarantee, €100,000 per person per bank, also when you move money to a bank in another EU country: see how the deposit guarantee works.
- Check against inflation. A rate that rises but stays below inflation still loses buying power: do Dutch savings rates beat inflation compares the two with today's figures.