Brits' financial literacy is 'worsening'

Thu, 21 Aug 2008

Brits' financial literacy is worsening, research by Abbey has revealed.

According to the bank, one in ten adults failed to pass a GCSE personal finance exam, which required a score of more than 40 per cent.

Some 25 per cent of those sitting the exam got an A-star grade, while 22 per cent were awarded B grades and 12 per cent received Cs.

The most common mistake made by participants was not knowing that credit cards offer six weeks interest-free on purchases, which 88 per cent of people were not aware of.

A further 38 per cent could not explain negative equity, while a quarter could not define an unsecured loan .

Steve Shore, Abbey Banking Director, said the situation is "quite worrying given that the credit crunch and cost of living has dominated the front pages for the past twelve months".

Meanwhile, it was reported by Abbey earlier this week that some £50 million is being withdrawn from savings accounts across the UK as two-thirds of Britons raid their accounts to fund holidays.
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.