Brits face emergency cash shortfall

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

AROUND a fifth of Brits would be forced to rely on their credit cards if faced with a household emergency as they have insufficient savings.

Just under 6m people would not be able to meet the cost of an emergency, such as repairing a boiler or replacing a washing machine, while a quarter admit they could not even afford a plumbers' call out fee.

Instead one in five people would have to use credit or borrow money from a friend to meet the cost, according to Alliance & Leicester.

A further 12% admit they have no idea how they would meet the cost if something in their home went wrong.

Only 28% of people said they had more than £1,000 set aside that they could use in an emergency, while 52% of people said they could not afford to spend more than £500 repairing or replacing something.

Just 21% of people said they had put money on one side solely for use in an emergency, while 37% of people claimed they had been unable to replace household appliances in the past because of cashflow problems.

Women were less prepared for household emergencies than men, with 35% of women claiming they had struggled to meet the cost of something going wrong in the past, compared with 26% of men, while 46% of women admitted they had less than £200 available for an emergency, compared with 28% of men.

Mike Woodward, manager for savings at Alliance & Leicester, said: 'It is pretty shocking to discover that so many people are adopting a head-in-the-sand approach to the possibility of having to fork out for unexpected household expenses.'

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