Savings For Good
Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR) Base Rate Tracker Credit Union Account
Make a positive difference to communities across the UK. Use your savings to inspire changes and reduce your income tax liability while your savings make an impact in communities.
Summary
The way we offer CITR accounts has changed.
Key changes;
- One application to open an account that covers tax relief and savings interest.
- 75% of total funds placed into a CITR account are eligible for tax relief.
- 100% of the total funds placed into a CITR account are eligible to receive savings interest.
- The savings interest payable tracks 3.25% below the prevailing Bank of England base rate for the duration of the account being open.
- Minimum investment £5,000. Maximum without pre-approval £500,000.
What’s the same;
- Available to UK registered companies.
- CITR capacity is limited and offered on a first come first served basis.
- Funds need to be invested for minimum 5 years to obtain maximum tax relief.
- Organisations saving can claim Income Tax relief of up to 5.00% of the eligible amount saved each tax year, starting with the year in which the investment is made and the four subsequent tax years thereafter. This gives a total tax relief of up to 25% of the eligible amount saved.
CITR Period
5-years
Tracking Rate*
3.25%
below BoE base rate
Income Tax Relief**
5.00%
per annum
You can monitor the Bank of England base rate on its website.
*The savings interest payable tracks 3.25% below the prevailing Bank of England base rate for the duration of the account being open, but will not fall below 0.00% if the base rate falls below 3.25%. Currently this results in 0.75% gross / 0.75% AER interest being paid. Gross is the interest rate without tax deducted. AER stands for Annual Equivalent Rate and illustrates what the interest rate would be if interest was paid and compounded once each year.
**Please refer to our CITR Base Rate Tracker – Scheme Details & Summary Box for full details and worked examples of potential returns to savers. Minimum and maximum returns for each income tax banding are shown below along with those for corporation tax payers. These examples below are based on the current Bank of England base rate of 4.00%.
– Basic rate tax: 4.69% to 5.44% (subject to an individual’s utilisation of their personal savings allowance)
– Higher rate tax: 6.25% to 7.00% (subject to an individual’s utilisation of their personal savings allowance)
– Additional rate tax: 6.82% to 7.57% (no personal savings allowance)
– Corporation tax: 5.00% to 5.75% (Main rate of 25% used)
UK tax legislation, which may be subject to change, may have an impact on your organisations tax position.
Key benefits
Access
Available to UK registered companies. Open an account with a minimum £5,000.
Return
Your savings will benefit from interest tracking 3.25% below base rate and 5.00% income tax relief from the tax year of investment and four subsequent tax years.
Social Impact
Your money will be used to support charities and social enterprises.
Summary box
Five Years.
£5,000
£500,000 (dependent on available CITR capacity).
Initial deposit(s) can be made by cheque or electronic transfer from your nominated account only. From the day we confirm your account is open you have 14-calendar days to fund it with one or multiple deposits up to a maximum account balance of £500,000 or in excess of this limit if pre-approved by us. If your account is not funded to the minimum account balance of £5,000 within this period, it will be closed, and any funds returned to you. No further payments permitted once the funding period has ended.
Interest will be paid gross.
Interest is calculated daily and added to your account quarterly in March, June, September and December and on closure of your account. There is no bonus interest payable.
Based on an interest rate of 0.75% gross / 0.75% AER (4.00% base rate), the estimated balance on a £5,000 deposit after 12 months would be £5,037.61. The estimated balance on a £100,000 deposit after 12 months would be £100,752.11. These illustrative examples assume no withdrawals, no changes to the Bank of England base rate over the period and interest is paid and compounded quarterly. (The illustrative examples do not take into account the individual circumstances of a saver.) Please note savings interest would form part of the overall return for savers and needs to be factored alongside tax relief as shown in our ‘worked examples’.
To obtain maximum tax relief the funds must be held in an account for a period of 5-years. No withdrawals are permitted for the first 3 years. Up to 25% can be withdrawn in Year 4 and up to 50% withdrawn in Year 5, upon 91 days written notice. Any funds being withdrawn must be credited to your nominated account.
For example if a saver put £15,000 into a CITR Base Rate Tracker Account on 18th April 2025. The eligible amount for each tax year for which relief may be claimed is £11,250 (75% of £15,000), which would mean a tax relief of £562.50 (5% of £11,250) may be claimed for the tax year 2025/26 (the tax year in which the saving was made) and for each of the four subsequent tax years. (UK tax legislation, which may be subject to change, may have an impact on your personal tax position.) Please note tax relief would form part of the overall return for savers and needs to be factored alongside any savings interest as shown in our ‘worked examples’.
All accounts are operated by post. We can answer any questions directly by email or over the phone. Currently we do not offer online services once your account is open.
We shall write to you ahead of the certificates’ expiry date with options available to you at the time.
Apply By Post
Download an application pack:
Charity Bank Terms for Organisations
Discuss a savings account
Talk to our UK based Savings Team about your needs.
Savings Account Statements
Click on the button to access information on when you will normally receive statements and how you can request ad hoc ones or set recurring dates to suit your needs.
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View Credit Union Savings AccountsFrequently Asked Questions
How can I make my initial deposit into a new savings account?
Once we confirm to you by email that your account is open, you will have 14-calendar days to fund it. During this window you can make one or multiple payments by any of these methods.
- Electronic payment from your nominated account.
- Cheque drawn from your nominated account.
OR
- Internal transfer of maturing funds or funds held in an existing Charity Bank account.
Once this period has ended, if your account hasn’t been funded at least to its minimum account balance, it will be closed, and confirmation will be issued to you. We will send you a reminder to fund your account after 7-days to ensure such cases are kept to a minimum.
We partner with NatWest as our clearing bank. From 3 May 2024 we were live on the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service. You can read more about how it works and what this means to you on our dedicated CoP webpage. We continue to encourage you to please take due care and diligence when making payment by electronic transfer. Your confirmation of account opening email, will provide your unique 8-digit account to be used with our sort code: 60-83-16 and you are welcome to contact us by phone: 01732 441944 or email: [email protected] to double-check anything.
Please always quote your application reference number* and/or surname as a payment reference and ensure your bank correctly quotes the reference when they are making a payment on your behalf, otherwise it may be rejected and returned to you without interest. You’ll earn interest from the business day on which the payment was received.
*If you completed your account application online, you will have been given an application reference number.
How do I operate my account?
All accounts are operated by post. We can answer any questions directly by email or over the phone, with our friendly UK based Savings Team, who are always willing to support you. Currently we do not offer online services once your account is open.
How does Charity Bank support vulnerable customers wishing to apply for an account?
We understand that challenging situations, whether temporary or permanent, can make it more difficult to apply for and maintain your account with us. Please refer to our Customer Support guidance or contact us by phone: 01732 441944 or by email: [email protected] should you need any support before completing your application.