Money News

Saving slows as household bills increase

By Garnet Roach - garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

Higher cost of living hits savers, says British Banking Association.

Some people are being forced to put less money aside as the cost of household bills rises, the British Banking Association http://www.bba.org.uk/ (BBA) has warned.

Although personal deposits into savings accounts on the high street increased by £6.1billion over the first six months of the year, this was a huge slowdown compared to the £15.9billion at the same time in 2010.

This could be down to the higher cost of household bills such as petrol, gas and electricity, the group said.

“Personal deposits are growing only slowly as some people may be using savings to pay higher household bills,” explained David Dooks, BBA statistics director.

Three of the “big six” energy providers - British Gas, Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy - have hiked prices in recent weeks, while the Bank of England base rate remains at 0.5%, offering only poor returns for savers.

Mortgage lending and credit card borrowing also remained subdued, the BBA’s June statistics from the main high street banks showed.