Northern Rock Adds ISA Video Guide to New Savings Website

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England, April 12, 2011 - Northern Rock has enhanced its interactive new savings website with an
animated video guide to help savers steer their way through the ISA maze.

To coincide with the beginning of the new tax year, when the individual
tax-free* Cash ISA subscription limit increased to GBP5,340 for this tax
year, Northern Rock has now added the informative four minute guide to its
recently revamped savings and investment website.

The guide is designed to help customers make the most of their money in
an accessible way, by highlighting the benefits of tax-free* savings accounts
(www.northernrock.co.uk/savings/Learn/ )and telling them exactly how a
Northern Rock Cash ISA works.

The colourful cash ISA video guide, which is also available via the
bank's YouTube channel, covers key questions such as 'What is an ISA?', 'How
does a cash ISA work?' and, 'Are you able to transfer your existing ISA?'.

Northern Rock offers a range of Cash ISAs, all with competitive rates,
including online products such as E-ISAs (
www.northernrock.co.uk/savings/Learn/ISAs/ ) and Fixed Rate accounts
as well as instant-access and variable rate products. All Northern Rock ISA
products allow transfers in from other ISA providers and none of Northern
Rock's Cash ISAs have any bonus rates attached.

Andy Tate, customer and commercial director at Northern Rock said: "This
video guide adds a new dimension to what is already a highly interactive
tool.

"The savings website was developed with the aim of improving the process
of evaluating and applying for a savings product for our customers, and this
new guide enhances this further by getting important and sometimes complex
information across about ISAs in a straightforward and enjoyable way.

"We know that our customers prefer catch-free ISA products to those with
short term bonuses, as it saves them having to move their funds at the end of
a given period. So we've designed our ISA range to be as simple and
straightforward as possible.

"Our research has shown that four in ten people who have an ISA earn less
than 1% interest, and one in ten people earn less than 0.1%, so we also hope
this guide will point people to the fact that Northern Rock provides a
competitive choice of tax-free* options to make their money work harder for
them, whatever they are saving for."

Further detail about Northern Rock's range of ISA products is available
on the new website, which is populated with useful advice and information for
different savings customer groups, financial planning information and
at-a-glance guides to help people choose between different types of savings
account.

The site also includes a range of interactive tools such as a jargon
buster and budget planner to help take the complexity out of selecting the
right savings product for the customer's own individual circumstances, and a
product calculator for each of Northern Rock's products, including its Cash
ISAs, to help work out the estimated return on investment.

Notes to Editors:

*The tax-free rate is the contractual rate of interest payable where
interest is exempt from income tax.

About Northern Rock:

Northern Rock plc is a retail savings (
www.northernrock.co.uk/savings/ ) and residential mortgages
(www.northernrock.co.uk/Mortgages/) bank, authorised by the FSA as a
deposit taker and mortgage lender from 1 January 2010. It holds and services
around GBP16 billion of savings balances and GBP12 billion of mortgage
accounts. It offers new savings and mortgage products.

    PR contact:

    Jule Wilson
    Northern Rock House
    Gosforth
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE3 4PL
    +44-(0)191-279-4676

www.northernrock.co.uk

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