By Julian Goldsmith, 22 November 2007 16:48
NEWS
Most Brits are "finance-phobic" and would fail to notice if £1,000 went missing from their bank accounts.
A survey of more than 1,000 consumers found just 14 per cent check their bank statements regularly enough to notice if their accounts have been taken over by fraudsters. And nine out of 10 said they wouldn't be able to tell if £1,000 was taken out of their account.
Calculated at a national level, the survey claims more than £43bn in cash is up for grabs to fraudsters.
The figures make chilling reading coming out as the government admitted 7.25 million citizens' bank account details are languishing on two CDs mislaid by HM Revenue & Customs.
The research found only one in five of us check our bank balance once a month, with 16 per cent afraid to check up on their own finances. The same number said they know more about celebrities or sport than their own bank balance.
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Adults aged between 24 and 34 are the worst offenders for going overdrawn as a result of not knowing the state of their finances. Women are more likely to overspend on food and drink, while men are more likely to overspend on luxury goods.
The survey was sponsored by mobile banking specialist Monilink.
Monilink CEO Alastair Lukies said in a statement: "Considering the recent stories relating to information security and the impending sense at this time of year of the need to manage money better, it's now even more important for consumers to regularly check their finances using the tools provided by their banks. Just checking your accounts once a month when your statement comes through simply isn't enough and it's important that people keep a daily check on what is coming into and going out of their accounts."
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
pardon!
if people don't notice a missing £1K then they have too much money and not enough sense
send it to me and I'll look after it in my bank account, you can have it back any time you want, I'll hang on to the interest though
2. anonymous
who the heck answered this survey, probably the stinking rich who don't need to check their accounts, the rest of us (9/10) need to know where we stand.
3. Rob
Surveys... ah yes another industry for people who can't work in the real world.
What better way to get paid than to make up a load of old bull all the time. I think I'd rather trust the results from a Family Fortunes survey.
If 1k went missing from my account I might not spot it in time but I'm sure the mortgage, mobile phone and car insurance people would duly inform me that hadn't paid them.
I'm with Karen, I'll be a bank for the stupidly rich.
4. Mac the Knife
Then send me £1k, I can use it!
I am staggered - who did they ask?? Given that £1k is a very generous slice of most people's monthly pay is everyone SO in debt that another £1k missing is neither here nor there?
Oh, wait, the government will find a way to spin THIS into another reason for ID cards, since all the others are such rubbish!