SSIA accounts are due to come to fruition. And the holders will be bombarded with suggestions about how they should sensibly salt away their money again.

But you don't have to be sensible with all of it. Saving isn't an end in itself. It's not about making sacrifices just so you can keep on making sacrifices. You have saved for five years and deserve a reward, so go on and have that splurge.

However, most of us want to keep at least some of our hard-earned hoard of cash - at least for a while. And we are shopping around for somewhere to park the Euro2bn flowing into our bank accounts every month in maturing SSIA money.

Inflation is running at nearly 5% - way above what is paid out on most deposit accounts.

So we have our work cut out to find one where our windfalls are not going to wither away.

In fact, SSIA holders are not the only ones who could benefit from shopping around for deposit rates. Some Euro34bn is languishing in demand deposit accounts paying as little as 0.1%, when they could be getting 60 times more.

It's estimated that savers in general are losing out on over Euro100m a year by not shopping around for the best deals. The good news is that competition has made banks come up with some juicy deals as the battle for SSIAs gets under way. But there are pitfalls: restrictions on how much you can salt away, and the limited period for which the sexier returns are guaranteed.

Reading between the lines, it would appear that banks want to get as much SSIA money into these accounts as they can, before cutting the rates on offer. And then they will rely on the most dependable trait in the world - customer inertia - to keep the money on their books.

When these rates come down to sub-inflation - less than 4.9% - you would be actually better off spending the money instead of seeing it decline in real value and then getting taxed on the little interest you do get.

It's not the banks' fault that they are paying their customers less than the rate of inflation, it's the government that has allowed inflation to spiral upwards.

Our interest rates are lowish because they are set by the European Central Bank and inflation is only 3% across the EU. However, in Ireland it's a rampant 4.9%, which is what creates the anomaly.

The most galling thing for savers, however, is that, having allowed inflation to get so high that it erodes the value of their money, the government then taxes them on the little interest they do receive, even though they have effectively made a loss!

The bottom line is that you are better off spending your money than getting sub-inflation returns in a deposit account.

So by all means take advantage of the latest 6%-plus interest rates - while they last. And then withdraw the money and have a good splurge when they are reduced below the rate of inflation.

Here's a rundown on the best deposit deals and their hidden pitfalls.

Halifax 6.65% THE big Irish banks have shrugged off competition from their smaller counterparts for years. But they can't afford to ignore this UK giant, which has single-handedly managed to shake them out of their competitive torpor. Halifax is offering a market-beating 6.65% to regular savers who salt away up to Euro750 a month.

So what's the catch? You must save at least Euro10 a month for at least a year and make no more than two withdrawals over that time.

The biggest drawback with these new accounts targeting SSIA money, however, is that these interest rates are unlikely to last, so look at what sort of rate is guaranteed. Halifax promises a margin of 1.5% above the ECB rate until 31 January 2008.

The ECB rate is currently 3.5%, though likely to rise.

This means Halifax is committed only to paying 5% for less than a year and the rate after that could be anything.

AIB 6.6% AIB promises that its rate will at least match the ECB's prime rate plus 2.50% per annum - to be at least 6% - until 1 January next. Thereafter it will match the ECB rate for at least another year.

This is slightly better than the Halifax guarantee. You also have the flexibility to withdraw money from this account any time you like.

There is no limit to the amount you can withdraw and no penalties for doing so.

However, you are allowed to save a maximum of only Euro300 a month, so it won't make much inroads into your SSIA hoard. You must also have an existing AIB account to nominate as your payment account, which is an extra hassle for non-AIB customers.

Bank of Ireland 6.25% BoI's initial rate of 6.25% is slightly lower than AIB or Halifax but it might work out higher in the long run. That's because BoI pledges to pay the ECB rate plus 2.75% for 18 months. With a couple more interest rate increases on the cards, this means the rate paid on this account could