David Prosser: An offer you can refuse from Barclays

That's not a price worth paying. Barclays, like the other large banks, offers a cruddy deal to millions of current account customers. While you're in credit, it will pay you just 0.1 per cent a year in annual interest. But go overdrawn and you'll pay up to 15.6 per cent, though new customers may qualify for special deals.

Save & Spend has campaigned for years to bring the poor-value accounts offered by Barclays and others to the attention of readers. It has taken some time to persuade bank customers to switch to better deals, but there is growing evidence to suggest more people are now happy to change current account provider.

Hence gimmicks such as the latest deal from Barclays. Unable - or unwilling - to compete on the merits of its current account range, it has come up with a sneaky way to persuade existing customers not to leave.

It's hard to imagine why non-Barclays customers would move to the bank simply to get this regular savings product. Alliance & Leicester offers an almost identical deal linked to its current account, which is much better value. And Bradford & Bingley also pays 10 per cent - without requiring customers to open a current account.

But existing customers should not be conned either. It's just possible that earning 10 per cent from Barclays on your regular savings will make up for the losses you incur on its current accounts compared with more competitive products, though you can't save more than £250 a month and the rate is only guaranteed for 12 months. But if you can get the 10 per cent elsewhere anyway, why should you bother putting up with Barclays' lousy current account?

There was a time when switching bank was a pain in the neck. But these days, it's much easier - all the banks have signed up to a deal in which they will pass on your details to new providers within three working days of being told to do so. And your new bank will arrange the switch of all your direct debits and standing orders.

Barclays is not alone in offering poor value. Its Big Four colleagues, HSBC, NatWest and LloydsTSB, are also very uncompetitive (though the latter has improved some of its deals).

Until they come closer to matching the 4.89 per cent interest rate on credit balances available from the likes of Alliance & Leicester, or the 7.75 per cent overdraft rate on offer at Nationwide Building Society, they don't deserve our business. And no cleverly marketed deal such as Barclays' new savings account should persuade anyone otherwise.

* Save & Spend has received many letters from readers concerned about the new chip and PIN rules introduced on Wednesday - Alison Blyth's comments opposite are quite typical.

To confirm what I said last Saturday, retailers are now entitled to insist that customers with chip and PIN-enabled plastic use the new system. If you can't - or won't - input a PIN and insist on signing, retailers are within their rights to turn your business away.

However, if you don't yet have a chip and PIN card - or you are exempt from the new system - you may continue signing for transactions. Any retailer who tells you otherwise is simply wrong. Do let me know about your experiences.