Expat rates: base rate gloom doesn't mean a bad deal However, savers who went for the five-year deal three years ago won't be able to move into the current deals, as fixed-rate deals seldom allow early access or only if penalties are paid. But for those who took out a three-year fixed rate when base rate moved down to 0.5pc, now is decision time as their accounts will be maturing. However, for once it's a good news story. The best three-year fixed rate on offer in March 2009 was the Co-operative Bank's 3.5pc, closely followed by the Clydesdale International's 3.25pc. If you put £10,000 in the Co-operative deal three years ago, then your savings will have grown to around £11,087 at 3.5pc or £11,007 at 3.25pc. But now the best three-year fixed rate is the Clydesdale's 4pc. Put £10,000 in at that rate and in three years" time your investment will have grown to £11,249. If you put your matured Co-operative proceeds of £11,087 into the Clydesdale deal then in three years" time it will be worth £12,471. However, savers might be concerned at tying up their money for three years: what happens if base rate moves against them over that time? While there's no way of telling what will happen with interest rates, the current wisdom from the markets is that the first move upwards for base rate won't be until October 2014. This might suggest that a two-year fixed rate is a good idea - but this time, rates on offer now are lower than those that were available three years ago. Then, the best two-year deal was the Anglo Irish Bank Corp International (now AIB International) which was paying 4.2pc. Today, the top two-year fixed rate is much lower, at 3.8pc from Clydesdale International. Over two years, £10,000 at 3.8pc would grow to £10,774.44; at 4.2pc it would have grown to £10,857.64. One-year deals too are much lower now than three years ago. Today, the best one-year fixed rates are all at 3.5pc (from AIB, Clydesdale or Permanent Bank). Three years ago savers wanting a one-year fixed rate could get 4.35pc from Anglo Irish Corporation or 4pc from Irish Nationwide (now Permanent Bank). Had you saved £10,000 at 4.35pc for a year then your savings would have grown to £10,435, compared with £10,350 at today's 3.5pc. Even shorter fixed term rates were far higher three years ago than now, as money markets presumably didn't expect the 0.5pc base rate to last for long. You could then fix for six months at 4.3pc with Irish Nationwide (now Permanent Bank) - today the best six-month fixed rate is just 3.02pc from AIB International. However by far the biggest change has been on easy-access accounts. Today, the top rate is on AIB International's 2.5pc, with bonus rate deals from Alliance & Leicester and Nationwide not far behind. But three years ago, almost incredibly, you could get 4.25pc from Irish Nationwide (Permanent Bank) on easy access on £25,000, followed by Anglo Irish (AIB International) at 3.8pc on £5,000.