Financially cheating? UK couples hide thousands from each other in secret savings.

Research from GoCompare finds 7% of the UK are keeping their savings a secret from their partner.

• One in 8 people say their partner does not know how much they have in savings.
• On average, people in the UK have £10,685 worth of savings.
• 7% of the UK keep the amount they have in savings a secret from their partners.
• Women are five times more likely than men to keep their savings a secret from their partner.
• 18-24 year olds are the most likely to keep their savings figures to themselves

New research from GoCompare Money has revealed that 7% of UK savers admit to having a secret savings account which they hide from the friends, family and partner.

On average, those with a secret savings stash are keeping £10,685 hidden away, with a fifth (20%) of UK people having more than £25,000 in a hidden account.

The study also showed that women were more likely to have covert cash squirrelled away, with women being five times more likely than men to keep their savings a secret from their partner.

Younger savers were the most likely to be secretive with their money, with one in seven 18-24 year olds hiding their money from their other half.

While a secret savings account is attractive to some, it’s worth noting that you’ll have to declare any secret savings should you and your partner go through a divorce. 

Georgie Frost, consumer advocate at GoCompare said; “It’s one thing for couples to keep separate savings accounts, but another to be actively hiding money from your loved ones. While each person who does so will have their own reason for it, having a secret emergency fund may not be a terrible thing to have.

“A bit like our job, as much as we don’t want to think about the worst happening, being made redundant or splitting up, being prepared for all eventualities is essential. Particularly if your finances are intertwined, perhaps as a result of living together or being married, breaking up can hit you hard in the wallet.

“An important thing to take away from this research is how we’re starting to see a long term shift towards people wanting to stay in financial control, particularly women. It’s worth remembering, secret or not, that to get the most from your savings you need to shop around for the best interest rate.”

For more information and to compare savings rates, head to our money page at gocompare.com/money.

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For further information please contact:

Anders Nilsson or Martyn John at GoCompare on 01633 654 054 / 01633 654 725

Gordon, Jason or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845

Keep up-to-date with GoCompare on Twitter; @GoCompare

Notes to editors

*On 22 December 2017, Bilendi conducted an online survey among 1,352 randomly selected British adults who are Maximiles UK panelists.  The margin of error-which measures sampling variability-is +/- 2.2%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and regional data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of United Kingdom. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

**Source: ONS Overview of UK Population March 2017 - Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - UK adults 18 and over = 50,782,895 in 2015. 39.54% of those surveyed said they had some form of debt - with 10% of those with debt saying they were hiding debt from friend’s family or a partner. The survey found that on average those with debt (excluding student loans and mortgages) had £6,131.20.

About GoCompare

GoCompare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.

GoCompare does not charge people to use its services, and it does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. Gocompare.com makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.

GoCompare does not sell its customers’ data.

When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. GoCompare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest, and has teamed up with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.

GoCompare is the only comparison website to be invited to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

For more information visit www.gocompare.com and www.gocomparegroup.com