One in four struggle to save due to economic turbulence

ONE in four people in the UK are unable to put any of their income into savings due to the ongoing financial crisis, new statistics from Nationwide revealed yesterday.

The UK’s largest building society said in its Saving Index that 26 per cent of consumers are unable to save their money, while less than half – 46 per cent – say that they are able to put money aside on a regular basis.

There was no sign of the savings landscape brightening up, with 60 per cent admitting they save less than they need to, compared to 56 per cent six months ago.

Nationwide’s head of savings Andy Hutchinson said: “Unemployment and falling income growth…make it difficult to save, while low interest rates may have increased the incentive to prioritise debt reduction over deposit accumulation.”

Meanwhile, credit card lender Capital One is to halt its savings business in the UK and transfer existing customers’ accounts to the Skipton building society.

The US-owned bank will hand over its savings accounts to Skipton on 27 July, but insisted that customers, who were told of the decision by letter this week, would not be affected.

Capital One said the transferred accounts would operate under the new name Castle Money.