Does your other half know your guilty financial secret?
Does your other half know your guilty financial secret?
Almost everyone believes that openness about finances is important to a relationship. A new survey from CreditExpert.co.uk reinforces the point, with most British adults agreeing. But the true facts show a very different story.
Almost one in five adults in a relationship admits they haven’t told their partners what they owe – which means that they are hiding up to £30 billion of debt!
Ten per cent have even set up a secret bank account that they keep to themselves, while 15 per cent, aren’t telling their partners the true level of their earnings or bonuses and another ten per cent make secret purchases from joint accounts.
Peeking at the paperwork
Perhaps not surprisingly, more than a quarter of those in a relationship have decided to take their partners’ financial honesty with a pinch of salt and sneak a look at their bank statements or pay slips on the sly.
CreditExpert director Darryl Bowman says, “If you have something to hide, you might want to consider that one joint application for credit with your partner creates a ‘financial association’ on both of your credit reports and that means your financial behaviour could impact your partner’s finances, including their ability to get credit. Couples should be honest about money, particularly if you are already financially linked and if you plan to have joint accounts in the future.”
“A simple way of finding out if you are financially linked with anyone is to look at your credit report. If you find someone else’s name, their financial track record could affect your chances of getting credit.”
Don’t avoid the truth
Many of us don’t like to face up to what’s happening, ten per cent of the survey’s respondents say they are ashamed of their finances, with an equal number worried about how their partner would take it if he or she knew their true financial situation. A lot of those people might well be among the 4.2 million of us – who have hush-hush credit or store cards their partners don’t know about.
And some of those will be among those so stressed by current economic circumstances that they are clamming up about their finances. One in 20 report that their last relationship failed because of their partner’s lack of frankness about money.
Category: People in Debt
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