Britons suffering from finance-phobia

A survey by mobile banking service Monilink has discovered that British savers are negligent with only 10% noticing if £1,000 was missing from their savings. The results should be a warning to the 25 million people affected by the Government’s loss of 2 computer discs containing name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25 million people.

According to Monilink, the failure to check bank accounts is fear that a savers bank balance will be lower than anticipated with many choosing to ignore it. 20% say this is the main reason for not checking their balance.

When calculated nationally, the amount of unwatched money sitting in accounts is roughly £43.3 billion. Nearly 50% of the British public check their bank balance on a weekly basis, nearly 25% only check it on a monthly basis. Over 25% of those questioned say they have sleepless nights over their finances whereas 34% confessed they had gone overdrawn because they were unaware of the total of their bank balance.

Alastair Lukies of Monilink said the findings of the survey indicate that consumers need all the assistance they can get to keep an eye on their money. Poor money management and existence of ‘finance-phobia’ in Britain is worrying considering the increasing levels of debt problems Britons face.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Britons suffering from finance-phobia