out on easy wins \u2013 like earning<\/a> interest on their savings. For many, that extra income could have easily covered the cost of Christmas, but for those without savings to fall back on, starting a regular saver now could mean a stress-free festive season next year \u2013 without relying on credit.\u201d<\/p>\nThe proportion of people planning to splash out this Christmas has shrunk sharply compared with last year, the research suggests. On average, households expected to spend \u00a3596 this year, down from \u00a3774 in 2024, Yorkshire Building Society found.<\/p>\n
The proportion planning to spend more than \u00a31,000 plummeted to 15%, down from just over half (51%) last year. More than half (55%) of people in the latest survey said they feel stressed about their finances and nearly a quarter (24%) plan to use a credit card to cover the cost.<\/p>\n
Among those borrowing, expectations around when they will clear their debt vary widely. Around half (51%) expect to clear festive debt within three months, while a quarter (24%) anticipate taking up to a year.<\/p>\n
Opinium Research surveyed 2,000 people across the UK in November. The findings were compared with a previous Opinium Research survey of 2,000 people in September 2024.<\/p>\n
Yorkshire Building Society also used analysis of Caci\u2019s current account database for the research into interest on accounts .<\/p>\n
Earlier this year research showed a staggering \u00a3526 billion is estimated to be sitting idle in current accounts earning no interest, data shows.<\/p>\n
It means some 29 million people miss out on \u00a320billion annually in interest by leaving money languishing in current accounts and not moving it to high-interest savings accounts, research conducted by Spring Savings, a new savings app launched by Paragon Bank, shows.<\/p>\n
One in three people have \u00a35,000 sitting in their current account, while the average current account balance is \u00a32,067. Derek Sprawling, of Paragon Bank, says: \u201cHigh street banks are offering little to no interest on savings while making it unnecessarily difficult to access better alternatives, resulting in the rise of ‘current account coasters’.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue goes beyond just poor savings rates\u2014a more fundamental challenge appears to be apathy among savers. Many individuals aren\u2019t actively managing their savings or seeking out the best accounts to ensure their money grows as much as possible.<\/p>\n
According to Paragon, one in ten people admit they leave money in their current accounts simply because they haven\u2019t yet gotten around to moving it to a higher-paying savings account. Another 11 per cent report that they have no specific reason for not transferring their funds to a high-interest account.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, just over 20 percent of people say they keep money in their current accounts as a rainy-day fund, suggesting that for some, the convenience of easily accessible funds outweighs the potential for better interest returns.<\/p>\n
For savers who actively seek higher returns, the difference can be significant. For example, if \u00a35,000 were placed in the best easy-access savings account paying 4.76 per cent interest, it could generate around \u00a3243 in interest. In contrast, the average current account balance of \u00a32,067 would only earn around \u00a3175.56 if placed in the same high-interest account.<\/p>\n
Clearly, savers are missing out on significant growth by not taking advantage of the best available interest rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 12 million current accounts in the UK are thought to be paying 1% or less in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,5361,117668,460,1294,56,54,55,106044],"class_list":["post-344253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-credit-cards","tag-current-accounts","tag-debt","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-yorkshire-building-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Yorkshire](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_GettyImages-1288030425.jpg\")
Yorkshire Building Society branch. (Photo by: Nigel Kirby\/Loop Images\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n