As rising living costs leave households £249 poorer a month on average, research from Nationwide Building Society has discovered that one in eight people are putting off getting the help they need. The poll comes a month after Britain’s biggest building society launched its freephone cost of living hotline and is gearing up to provide financial health checks to members before winter by offering appointments in branch, over the phone or video.
According to the survey of more than 2,000 people across the UK, more than eight in 10 (83%) people are worried about the rising cost of living on their household finances, with six per cent saying they are already in serious financial difficulty. Despite many already having cut back on costs, more than seven in 10 (71%) feel they have cut back as far as they can.
Despite this, around one in eight (12%) are avoiding seeking any additional support and are instead relying on their situation naturally improving, with younger people nearly five times more likely to avoid seeking help (19% for 16-24-year-olds vs 4% for those aged 55 and over).
While getting support early for financial difficulties can often resolve the issue sooner, when it comes to talking to banks or building societies, half (50%) of people worry about the ramifications.
Worries include having their credit score impacted (30% worried), being charged higher rates for credit (27%), prevented from getting credit (26%) or having their credit limit cut (21%).
Fewer than a fifth (19%) would speak to their bank or building society if they were struggling. This compares with 24 per cent who would go to their partner or spouse and 22 per cent who would turn to their parents. However, one in six (17%) wouldn’t seek any help from anywhere.
Nationwide, which pledges to answer calls within 10 minutes on its cost of living hotline, is handling a range of calls from members at this time.
Around one in 10 calls are being referred to Nationwide’s specialist money worries teams, who are able to offer support to those in financial hardship by understanding their individual circumstances and working through solutions, as well as putting people in touch with third-party debt organisations and charities who can provide independent advice. With costs continuing to rise, Nationwide expects call volumes to its hotline to accelerate in the coming months.
Jasper Davy, Director of Support at Nationwide Building Society, said: “While asking for help can seem daunting, doing so early usually results in better longer-term outcomes and can help reduce the stress of financial worries on a household.
“We would encourage anyone worried about the rising cost of living to contact their bank or building society who will be able to help.
“Our cost of living hotline is a safe place where members can talk to us about their problems so we can find the best way of helping them - already we have helped people with a range of issues and we expect this to increase as we head into the autumn as costs rise further.”
Nationwide members can call the cost of living hotline for free on 0800 030 40 66.
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