£83 billion in cash 'disappears' from UK wallets every year

Britons cannot account for £1 in every £8 they spend

20 July 2006, London

Nearly 25% of the average UK household's largest bill - their mortgage payment - could have been paid by the cash Britons lose track of each year, reveals new research by Visa UK*.

The problem of 'mystery spending', when people spend money but subsequently have no idea where it went, has become a huge phenomenon in the UK. The research reveals a staggering £83 billion in cash simply 'disappears' from our wallets every year - that's £1 in every £8 spent that is totally unaccounted for.

The research, commissioned by Visa UK as part of a nationwide lifestyle study, reveals that on average a UK adult spends £33 in cash every week with no recollection of what that money bought.

This 'lost money', in an average UK household, could have paid for:

All their everyday fuel and power bills for the whole year (gas, electricity and water)*
96% of all travelling costs during the whole year (private and public transport)*
All their weekly grocery shopping for three quarters of the year (38 weeks)*
72% of all their home improvements costs each year*
Three months of their mortgage payments each year*

The research shows that the top five occasions when people are most likely to 'mystery spend' are when:

Shopping for food or other groceries (51%)
Out and about with children or grandchildren (48%)
On a night out or socialising (47%)
Shopping in the sales (32%)
Shopping with friends (41%)

Surprisingly, men are more likely to mystery spend than women - averaging £36 a week versus £29. More than half (54%) of men admit to spending cash they can't account for when socialising (40% of women). And women are twice as likely to forget what they spent after shopping with friends than men (40% versus 22% of men).

Greg Twitcher, Vice President, Visa UK commented:
"This research reveals how difficult it is to keep track of your spending when using cash. Visa debit and credit cards are being used in more and more everyday situations enabling you to keep a record of where and what you have spent your hard earned money."

18-24 year olds are the worst offenders confessing to mystery spending £50 per week closely followed by 25-34 year olds who can't account for £48. The best age category was the over 55s who put the rest of the nation to shame by losing track of just £15 per week.

Londoners are the worst regionally losing track of £44 per week. While people in Yorkshire and Humber manage to keep the tightest rein spending only £22.50 per week on unknown items.

With 57% of people agreeing that they find coins in particular easy to lose, it may not be a surprise that so much is unaccounted for. As 75% of Brits make a habit of checking their bank or credit card statements to monitor their spending, it is clearly just their cash spending that remains a mystery.

The Visa Love Every Day study is conducting research into all aspects of our everyday lives in an effort to understand our daily lifestyle choices better.

- Ends -

Notes to editors:

* Statistics from a report on UK family spending 2004-5 produced by the Government's National Statistics:

The average UK household's fuel and power bills for the whole year (gas, electricity and water) was £993.20 from 2004-5
The average UK household's travelling costs (private and public transport) was £1,794 from 2004-5
The average UK household's grocery shop (food and non-alcoholic drinks) was £44.70 per week from 2004-2005
The average UK household spent £1,820 in restaurants and hotels in the UK and abroad from 2004-2005
The average UK household spent £1,232.40 on home improvements/alterations from 2004-2005
The average household's monthly mortgage payments were £579

The research was conducted by the Future Foundation between 16-18 June 2006, using a UK representative sample of 1,014 people aged 16 plus.

Visa's Love Every Day lifestyle study will be conducting research on the nation's everyday lives throughout 2006.

The Visa Europe press office only deals with media enquiries relating to the organisation's activities in the region. Journalists should email: europeanmedia@visa.com