Britain’s ‘sneaky spenders’ revealed

With thousands of households around the country in need of a debt solution, figures from Abbey have shown that more than 5.5 million joint account holders in the UK spend money secretively.

Furthermore, Abbey reports that 24 per cent of joint account holders suspect their partner of spending their money in inappropriate ways and a quarter of couples disagree over what their joint spending restrictions should be.

Steve Shore, head of banking at Abbey, said: “Money has always been a common source of dispute between couples, and joint accounts are proving to be no exception.

“It’s important that couples are open and honest with each other from the start and discuss exactly what the joint account rules are, to avoid arguments at a later date.”

Figures from Credit Action show that 80 per cent of British consumers regularly overspend and around five per cent have considered entering an Individual Voluntary Arrangement or declaring bankruptcy by way of a debt solution.