Survey: One-quarter of UK account holders know their balance exactly

How much money do you have in the bank?

A new poll conducted by Sybase 365, a mobile messaging company, shows that 25 percent of adults in the UK can tell you exactly how much money they have in their account at any particular time. Of those who don’t know their exact bank balance, 38 percent can still tell you how much is in their account to the nearest £10. Twenty-nine percent can recite their bank balance to the nearest £100.

They can do this because they are checking their bank balances ever-more frequently. The same survey showed that two out of five account holders check their balances every few days. One in seven checks to see how much is in their account every day. A Sybase spokesman characterized this as a good thing, with consumers developing a more “prudent” attitude about their money.

This prudence is being enabled by the growing ways in which account holders can easily access their account information. Individuals can get a quick quote of their current balance at most ATM machines. They can, in an increasing number of cases, check their balance online. And now, more and more banks are adopting mobile banking, which lets individuals access their account information from their cell phones. Just this week, Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) has joined Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL), HSBC (LSE: HSBA; NYSE: HBC; Euronext: HSBC; SEHK: 005) and Nationwide in providing mobile banking service.

This new way of keeping track of bank accounts not only allows consumers to be aware of exactly how much money they have in the bank, according to the Sybase spokesman. It also allows them the added benefit of receiving other financial information, including fraud alerts, nearly instantly.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Survey: One-quarter of UK account holders know their balance exactly