Bank says ‘financial apathy’ is costing millions of British people a fortune in lost money and creating a mental health time bomb

October 25 2017: Digital banking service B’s independent research shows 1 in 8 (13%) people in the UK have monthly payments coming out of their accounts for unused services like gym memberships or subscriptions to services they no longer use. A third (31%) admit they can’t be bothered to cancel these, while most others say they’re either too busy (26%) or there is a technology issue (24%) stopping them from doing so.

The problem is even greater for millennials, with the poll of 2,000 adults showing a fifth of 18-34 year olds with a bank account are letting unused payments leave their accounts every month. In spite of this apathy, worrying about money is main source of anxiety for this age group.

Helen Page, Group Innovation Director at B - powered by the Clydesdale Yorkshire Banks - commented: “There is an epidemic of financial apathy in the UK. The misconception is that it is time consuming and difficult to either stop automatic payments you don’t need or to switch to a different bank account. This is simply untrue – it is possible to apply to switch accounts and stop unnecessary payments in less than twenty minutes and the entire process can be done online.”

The survey also found 17% of people are uncomfortable revealing their monthly expenditure to their partners and money is main reason for marital arguments for almost a quarter of Britons. In fact, 6% of people say they are running out of money every month and 13% of those in full-time employment are hoping to win the national lottery in order to get themselves out of financial dire straits.

Worse still, one in nine (11%) of those running out of money every month admit they’ve gone without food at least once in the last 12 months to tide them over until the next payday. While 15% say they’ve not had enough money to pay their mortgage, rent, loan or credit card bills on at least one occasion in the last year. 5% of those in full-time employment regularly ignore their bank statements in a bid to ignore their financial reality.

Page continued, “When we look at younger people they are grappling with pressures such as social media – just under 15% of adults under 34 admit they are spending beyond their means in order to maintain an ‘Instagrammable life’. Add to this the reality that half of those in this age group regularly borrow money from parents to tide them over until payday, and a picture emerges of delayed adulthood which has serious implications on emotional wellbeing. It’s of great importance that we recognize the benefits of financial fitness.

“Technology such as the artificial intelligence in our B banking app helps alert people to where they can save money and not run into difficulty - but in addition to clever technology we need a cultural change in how we educate our children and young adults. More than many things in adult life, we need to take positive action to get away from financial apathy as that ultimately leads to stress. The good news is banks are waking up to this and some of us are making it much easier to change bad financial habits.”

For more information on how to cancel existing direct debits, and advice on simple ways to save money, visit https://www.youandb.co.uk/blog/

*Survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of B. A total of 2000 UK adults were surveyed between Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 October, 2017.

Helen Page, Group Innovation Director for B, is available for interview.

Case study available on request.

For more information, please contact: Carol Young - 07764 975 460 /0800 066 5998 / carol.young@cybg.com / press.office@cybg.com

About B

CYBG PLC is a full-service bank focused on UK consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and operates under the Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank and B brands. We serve nearly three million customers through an omni-channel model of online, mobile and telephone banking, together with a network of 169 branches and business banking centres, mostly in the UK’s economic heartlands of Scotland, the North of England and the Midlands.

We are committed to being at the forefront of innovative banking which delivers an experience that is useful, simple and rewarding and are investing more than £350 million in our business over the next two years. As part of this, we continue to introduce new services through our award-winning digital banking platform to ensure we are best placed to serve our customers’ needs both today and tomorrow.

Born out of a desire to make banking brilliantly simple, CYBG’s intuitive, mobile app-based banking service B was launched in 2016. B deploys artificial intelligence to learn how its customers spend and offers offering a range of interactive tools designed to give customers greater control of their money wherever they are. For further information, please visit www.youandb.co.uk