According to Nationwide’s Savings Index for December, people put less money into their
savings accounts during last month.
Of those questioned by Nationwide, 25 per cent said they did not put anything into their savings in December, which is up by 1 per cent on the number not saving in November.
In addition, only 45 per cent of those questioned said they regularly put money into a
savings account, which represents the lowest ever percentage since the Nationwide index was first put together in May 2008. The index itself dropped by 4 points in December, to a score of 83.
Andy Hutchinson, the head of savings at Nationwide, said that saving money was less of a priority for people during December, which is a notoriously expensive month. He explained, “December is clearly a busier month for retailers, so there is no surprise that the importance of saving decreased in the run-up to Christmas.”
He also suggested that shoppers may have decided to make major purchases in December, instead of putting money into their
savings accounts, in light of the fact that VAT returned to 17.5 per cent as off 1 January 2010.
