A recent survey conducted by Money.co.uk uncovered some light hearted facts about how parents rely on their children’s money when finding themselves caught short for cash.
It appears that 31% of Mums and Dads borrowed money from their children on at least one occasion during 2009 and on average parents borrowed £15 each time, equating to around £54 miliion loaned to the parents over the course of the year.
Amusingly only 92% of these ‘borrowings’ have been repaid to the children in full, leaving an outstanding balance of about £4 million. As the survey points out that figure would return in the region of £120,000 per year in gross interest.
Chris Morling, managing director of money.co.uk, said:
“I’m sure we’ve all been caught short of cash from time to time, for instance when a window cleaner or milk man needs paying. In those situations there’s no shame in borrowing a few pounds from the children, providing it’s only temporarily. All the same, it’s amazing how all those relatively small loans add up when you look at the country as a whole.
What’s more, you have to wonder how much extra money our children are missing out on if their pocket money is sitting in piggy banks, rather than savings accounts. After all piggy banks don’t pay interest and are not secure against parents on the hunt for ready cash.”
According to the Office for National Statistics around 75% of children save some of their pocket money each week, but only 28% do so in savings accounts.
To compare children’s savings account interest rates, features and benefits visit money.co.uk.
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