Three-quarters of bank’s 26m UK customers fear rising prices with 80% holding less than £500 in savings

[SleepDreamThinkHuge]

www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jul/06/demand-for-debt-services-by-lloyds-customers-jumps-rising-prices-savings

To think a lot of people in the UK are living hand to mouth. Especially with the cost of living getting worse (food price rise, bills rise, stagnant wages, utility bill rises etc..) We are going to see a lot more people borrowing money let alone having anything for savings.

Does this article resonate with you and those in your circle?

People on here will say that this is shite, because so many on here either do earn a lot, their husbands earn a lot, or they pretend they do for some reason.

But the reality is this is the case for the majority of people in Britain. The well off and rich are in the minority. We earn well between us, but still don't have a lot of savings. We have a few hobbies though and that takes up our money, so still better off than others. Can't say we are struggling, many others are.

Trying to pretend this isn't reality for many people makes you look highly naive and blind to the actual world.

I do think that many people will be struggling, I just think there are more reliable sources of data we can access to see what the damage is so far and where it's heading.

Most people who have savings don't keep it in banks, because you might as well keep it in a tin under your bed with the pathetic interest rates, but I know an awful lot of people don't even have any savings at all.

I'm not convinced 80% of people have less than £500 savings, but I'd say it's probably a majority rather than a minority in that position.

It also depends on what you mean by 'savings' because I could get many multiples of the amount I have in my bank from the other places I keep my money if I had to, which I regard as savings.

My bank would always show less than £500 savings because the amount which means I would transfer it elsewhere is below that.

Just looking at my bank accounts with one bank doesn't reflect what I have in savings, or take into account that I have no debts, have paid all this years council tax, paid the water company a year ahead, have credits in my gas/elec accounts etc.. which is far more than £500 worth of bills paid in advance that I wouldn't need savings to meet if I had to use them.

A bank balance is only a tiny bit of the picture you need to understand someone's financial situation.

I know there are plenty of people without a penny in savings, who are literally waiting for the next pay day or digging down the side of the sofa in the hopes of finding money so they can eat, but it's not 80% of the country.

I always find comments like this odd, on mn the majority of posters seem to be hard up, competitive how much UC/PIP threads, people pounce on anyone earning even a low/average wage for 'bragging' one poster even started an entire thread as they thought someone earning 30,000 a year was wealthy.

I've never seen a forum with so many low paid people on here but so many think it's all MC and above

Agreed. There certainly are a significant number of people who don’t have savings and are struggling, but I don’t think it’s 80% of people. I do think 80% of people would go hold on, why would I keep all my savings here when I could be getting 1.5%+ on them instead.

To answer the OP no this is not something that I or my circle are experiencing directly but my circle is not exactly representative of the population at large.

I’m not sure about savings but even if they are low you’d have to look at the proportion who are not struggling but are earning and spending higher amounts

Inflation is 10%, saving rates are .02%, and credit is cheap or free. It's entirely rational for most people to not save cash. Putting £500 in the bank is just setting fire to it, fifty quid at a time.

Most people have aaved cash though based on general public stats.
Just not with Lloyds😂

There is no point in saving as it means you are not entitled to benefits. You do the "right thing" you get punished.

I always find comments like this odd, on mn the majority of posters seem to be hard up, competitive how much UC/PIP threads, people pounce on anyone earning even a low/average wage for 'bragging' one poster even started an entire thread as they thought someone earning 30,000 a year was wealthy.

I can honestly say I've never seen a competitive 'how much UC/PIP thread' 😮

There's been a few fantasy rich trolls, but they're easy to spot.

What about those that have their savings in higher rate accounts. I hold current accounts with all the major banks and hold nothing in there day to day. Those banks will look at me as a customer and be alarmed, I hold my savings elsewhere however.

It's not really a true representation of customers but I would agree that most people are struggling and don't hold a lot of savings.

I haven't read the article, but I would be interested in the monthly debt repayment people have. I think this has a lot to do with the luck of savings.
Borrowing money against our future earnings rather than saving the money we have already earned.

(This is for credit cards & loans- not mortgages as we all have to live somewhere)

My bank would think I had less than 500 quid of savings.

They'd be wrong. I've got about 100k, it's not in a savings account with them!

I'm willing to bet banks simply don't actually know what proportion of their customers have a meaningful cushion of savings as people have money in all sorts of other places.

Headlines like that also don’t take into account ISAs? Until yesterday, son in law kept most of his savings in a lifetime ISA - to build up for the deposit on a house. (They completed on a house yesterday) We keep most of our savings in ISAs.

Self employed people may leave their capital in their business, but it’s there to draw on, if they want.

That sounds much more believable.

We went from serious amount of saving to very little for a few years because we bought a house - things then kept happening that meant savings got spent and then we were back to trying to build them up again.

We, DH and I, have accounts across three banks - some with savings earmarked for specific things and substantial overpayment of mortgage.

1/10 and 33% will I suspect by the lower wages or people who are in an expensive time of life stage.

People on here will say that this is shite, because so many on here either do earn a lot, their husbands earn a lot, or they pretend they do for some reason.

No, posters are saying it's shite because the headline is misleading and can be easily misinterpreted.

It DOESN'T mean that 80% of people in the UK have less than £500 in savings.

It DOESN'T mean that 80% of Lloyds' customers have less than £500 in savings.

It DOES mean that 80% of Lloyds' customers have less than £500 in their Lloyds accounts. And as some posters are pointing out, many of those people will have savings in other places (eg building societies, Premium Bonds) where they get higher rates of interest than those offered by banks.

That doesn't diminish the hardship of people who are living a hand-to-mouth existence. But unless you read the story carefully it's easy to interpret it to mean a large majority of people in general have very little in savings.

From a banking industry perspective, admitting that 80% of your individual customers have less than £500 with you, is appalling. But that's due to them offering low interest rates. It would be interesting to know the different ratios of customer/£holding between high street banks and decent building societies such as Coventry.

I can honestly say I doubt I know a single person who has £500 or less in “savings” and to be honest, I find it very hard to believe.
Given a lot of mums on here claim both parents work full time, they can surely put more than £500 away?

I can honestly say I doubt I know a single person who has £500 or less in “savings” and to be honest, I find it very hard to believe.

Seriously?

You live in quite the bubble then, don't you?

Exactly, it's meaningless.

The MD of Coutts could say that the majority of their customers have savings of a million pounds and extrapolate that to say most people have a million in savings!

I have accounts with 6 or 7 different banks or building societies. Pretty sure that none of them know what savings I hold in the others. Therefore this headline probably isn’t too accurate!

Nunn added that eight in 10 of its customers have less than £500 of savings in their current and savings accounts.

What counts as savings? I don't have any saving accounts but I have premium bonds & S&S isas

From a banking industry perspective, admitting that 80% of your individual customers have less than £500 with you, is appalling. But that's due to them offering low interest rates.

I don't get how are they not embarrassed tbh

I don't know anyone with 'savings' 😂

We all have credit card debts, car loans, mortgages and overdrafts that swallow our wages every month though...

People often don't talk savings here. It's seen as bragging. No one around me knows how much I have saved🤷🏻
I never mention it because only financial things ever talked about are car payments, mortgages/rents etc.