One UK financial services institution has recently revealed the results of a research study that has found that many banking customers have demonstrated unwillingness to switch current accounts. This is especially troubling because the study also revealed that many of these UK account holders may actually be wasting their money by not comparing the suitability of one product to another.
Spanish banking giant Santander recently announced in its Switching in the UK research study that more than nine out of every ten current account holders in the UK may be actually losing income based on several factors, one of which could be the lack of an interest rate that counteracts the current high rate of inflation in the country.
The high Consumer Price Index has been a significant thorn in the side of savers for some time; since the CPI has been holding steady at 3.1 per cent for several months, any financial savings products with a lower rate of return are actually losing money since the rising cost of living is eroding any gains. Many industry experts blame the base bank rate’s steady low of 0.5 per cent, set by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, as a contributing factor to the inflation rate.
Conducted by business information and market analysis firm Datamonitor on behalf of Santander, the survey further found that for every one hundred UK current account holders, only seven of them actually switched to a different provider in the past twelve months. This figure is one that differs significantly from other such personal financial items such as savings accounts and mobile phone contracts.
In news related to the Santander-commissioned survey, one Lovemoney.com representative stated that older Britons such as pensioners are demonstrating a higher likelihood for curbing the amount of their current account spending in comparison with other age demographic groups.