Brits 'stash their cash at home'
Friday, 28 Sep 2007 07:15
Some people choose to keep their cash at home
Three quarters of Brits admit to having cash stashed around their house, a new survey has revealed.
An average of £127 is hidden away by those who shun banks as a safe place to put their money, with an estimated £4.6 billion thought to be tucked inside cupboards and under mattresses.
Meanwhile almost half of people (45 per cent) think that growing numbers of people will opt to keep their cash at home in the wake of the recent Northern Rock crisis, the poll for
insurance firm Cornhill Direct found.
The survey of 1,500 people was conducted in the same month that the troubled lender was forced to turn to the Bank of England for an emergency loan due to liquidity problems, forcing the first run on a British bank in over 140 years.
It appears that trust in the country's financial institutions may have been eroded by the debacle, with more than four per cent questioned in the poll stating that they chose to keep their cash at home because they were concerned that something could happen to their bank, or were fed up with paying bank charges.
A further 13 per cent explained that they kept their money in the house as a reserve fund, while 45 per cent like having it at home so they have it ready if they need to pay for something in cash.
One in ten said they kept their cash at home because they couldn't be bothered to make a trip to their bank or building society to withdraw it.
The most popular place to hide away cash was found to be in the nation's drawers, while stashing money away in a tin is the next most favoured method of storing cash at home.
Respondents also revealed that they kept some of their money in the pockets of their clothes, or in a cupboard or safe at home, while some hid their cash in their wardrobe.
Traditionally favoured spots such as under the mattress and under the floorboards also featured in the top ten places to hide money, while one respondent even admitted to hiding their cash away in their freezer.
But despite the apparent popularity of stashing cash away at home, almost one in ten people acknowledged that at some point some of their hidden money had gone missing.
Commenting on the results of the survey Cornhill Direct spokesman Mark Bishop said: "It is never a good idea to keep large sums in the house."