This wave we dug deep into your finances, so let's see what your financial portfolio really looks like…..
Financial Products
Excluding current accounts, the top 5 financial products owned by you are as follows:
| 1. Debit card (91%) |
| 2. Credit card (80%) |
| 3. Savings account (77%) |
| 4. Home insurance (59%) |
| 5. Company pension (51%) |
Over the next 6 months, 1 in 10 of you plan to get a mortgage either solely or jointly, 10% think they will purchase travel insurance, 6% home insurance, whilst 6% of you see yourself opening an ISA in the same period. Current Accounts
In terms of current accounts, the top 5 account holding banks are:| 1. HSBC (19%) |
| 2. Natwest (14%) |
| 3. Barclays (13%) |
| 4. Lloyds TSB (12%) |
| 5. Halifax (7%) |
Interestingly, the top banks are dependent on your age and lifestage, reflecting some of the changes in the banking environment over the past decades.
| Urban Hunters | Urban Gatherers | Urban Farmers | Urban Grazers |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Single <30, no Kids) | (Single <30, no Kids) | (Children in household) | (Single, >30, no kids) |
| HSBC (22%) |
HSBC (23%) |
Lloyds TSB (14%) |
HSBC (14%) |
| Natwest (18%) |
Barclays (14%) |
Natwest (13%) |
Lloyds TSB (14%) |
| Barclays (16%) |
Natwest (12%) |
Barclays (10%) |
Natwest (13%) |
| Lloyds TSB (10%) |
Lloyds TSB (11%) |
HSBC (9%) |
Barclays (9%) |
| Halifax (6%) |
Halifax (7%) |
Halifax (8%) |
Halifax (6%) |
When it comes to choosing your primary account, you stay true to form with your technological savvyness, 20% of you stating that you chose your current account according to the online banking facilities, however, geographical location comes a close second with 18% of you stating that you chose your current bank as result of geographical convenience. The top 5 reasons for choosing your current bank are as follows:
| 1. Online banking facilities (20%) |
| 2. Convenient geographically (18%) |
| 3. Friend/family recommendation (17%) |
| 4. My last bank treated my poorly (16%) |
| 5. Best/good overall package (15%) |
| Telephone banking Wave 4 | Online banking Wave 4 | Telephone banking Wave 28 | Online banking Wave 28 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use | 61% | 66% | 53% | 82% |
| Use regularly |
22% | 50% | 19% | 61% |
When it comes to banking facilities, online banking is the service used most regularly among you, with 61% using it on a regular basis, and 82% using the service at all. The total online usage figures are up by a quarter since we last asked you this question back in 2002. Telephone banking is currently the least used service, with 19% of you using it on a regular basis, 53% at all, these figures are down since we last asked.
The top 10 words that you would use to describe your bank where you hold your main current account are as in the chart above. All in all you all appear relatively upbeat about your bank, with no negative descriptors in the top 10.
Around 1 in 10 of you have moved your current accounts in the last 12 months. The top reason for moving for 42% was down to something that you were unsatisfied with about your old bank, for 14% it was due to an attraction to another bank, whilst for a quarter of Urbanites it was a combination of the two.
The top reasons for dissatisfaction with banks are as follows:
| 1. General level of customer service (60%) |
| 2. Extra charges (42%) |
| 3. Lack of flexibility (37%) |
| 4. No personal touch (36%) |
| 5. Mistakes made by the bank (33%) |
Top of the list for pull factors to another bank were interest rates (39%) shortly followed by good online banking facilities (33%).
Mortgages
50% of you currently hold a mortgage, either jointly or solely. With you Urbanites being at such pivotal times in your lives, it’s no surprise that for 50% of you this mortgage is your first ever mortgage, whilst a quarter of you have re-mortgaged your property. In search for a mortgage, almost 50% of you sought advice from an independent financial advisor, whilst a quarter searched online using a search engine, over 20% went directly to the lender and 18% browsed companies that they already knew online. National newspapers, both articles & advertising, were the first media in the source list used to find information about mortgages. Almost a third of you keep up with financial news at least once a week or more. The first port of call for you when looking for financial news is national newspapers (61%), followed by internet general news sites (40%), whilst a third look at finance specific sites. 40% of you read the Metro Money page on a weekly basis, with the top 5 adjectives used to describe the money page listed below:
| 1. Useful (27%) |
| 2. Straight forward (25%) |
| 3. Sufficiently informative (24%) |
| 4. Interesting (24%) |
| 5. Handy (23%) |
Over a quarter of you have investigated something further that you have seen in the Metro Money page, contained in either editorial or advertising, with 15% of you stating that you have on more than just one occasion.
Income update
On average you earn more than the average UK adult, with an average take home pay before tax of £29,531, whilst the average full time working UK adult takes home around £23,654. On average you take home an annual bonus of around £3,719.
Charity
So you earn more, but are you as generous with your cash? On average you gave around £139 to charity in the last 12 months, the average UK working adult gave £49! Generous lot!Almost 50% of you gave to a cancer research charity in the last 12 months, a third to a children’s charity whilst a quarter sponsored friends and family or colleagues for an event they were doing.
