Skipton Building Society has announced that it will be raising the interest rate on a number of its investment bonds.

The new Pick 'N' Fix investment bonds , which were launched on November 7th 2006, are available in one-year, two-year and three-year options.

Rates vary for the one, two and three-year investment options, at 5.51, 5.61 and 5.65 per cent respectively.

For investors who wish to have an income, monthly interest options are available, although the rate drops by 0.2 per cent in each case.

All of the investment options require a minimum deposit of £500, up to a maximum of £50,000, which must be paid by cheque or transfer.

John Goodfellow, chief executive of Skipton Building Society, commented: The money markets are predicting further rises in the Bank of England's base rate and we've been able to use this to our investors' advantage to increase the return on our fixed rate bonds.

Especially competitive is the three-year option with its return of 5.65 per cent.

Skipton states that it is the UK's ninth-largest building society, with assets of just under £10 billion.