One in four people in the UK has a low financial resilience, according to a new survey by the Financial Conduct Authority. This means that they miss payments, have difficulty keeping up with the financial obligations or have no savings to help them through difficulties. About 21% of the respondents have less than £ 1,000 to exhaust in an emergency.
The FCA also reveals that 1.6 million adults (3%) had received support from mortgage or lenders to help with repayments in the past two years – this was 6 million earlier.
In the light of these figures, the regulator insists on consumers to reach their lender when they struggle with their payments, because lenders have a series of options available to help people under pressure with reimbursements.
As part of its new strategy, the FCA is working on improving people access to help, guidance and advice So that everyone has access to the support they need, at a costs they can afford to make informed decisions for their financial future.
The FCA pointed out the data that consumers were looking for support at the time, made the financial pressure more manageable.
Comment said FCA executive director of consumers and competition Sarah Pritchard: “Our data shows that finances are stretched for many – with some people unable to save for a rainy day. And we know that some do not have the confidence to invest. But there are improvements – more people with current accounts and less digital exclusion.