Britons 'switching to one provider'

06/08/2008

More and more people are switching their various bank accounts, cards and loans to a single provider - in a bid to make managing their personal finances easier.

According to new research released today by Abbey Banking, 8.7 million Britons have "consolidated" their financial products in this way.

Moreover, a further 18 per cent of UK adults, or 8.3 million people, say that they would consider the move for convenience's sake, as it would make passwords and PINs easier to remember.

"Many of us now prefer to keep things simple," Steve Shore at Abbey claimed.

Responding to the research, EuroDebt director Kevin Still warned that consolidating accounts can "work both ways" for the consumer.

This is because, despite the increased convenience offered, sometimes keeping accounts with one provider alone can allow the firm to "clamp down" on the customer harder in some circumstances.

"It is in difficult times that a client discovers whether this is truly beneficial or potentially very risky," he said.

"The bank has right of offset across different accounts and they may look at their overall exposure in terms of financial risk…It is very common for us to advise a client in financial difficulty to take out a basic bank account with another banking group to protect and control their income in such circumstances."

Tags; Housing Debt and Bills, Debt Management and Banking,

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