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25% of Brits stash more cash at home after TSB and Visa failures
Technology failures at some of the UK’s biggest financial institutions have prompted people to stash more of their money at home, research reveals.
A quarter of adults said they keep more cash in their house specifically in case system failures earlier this year at TSB and Visa happen again.
Around 30% of people surveyed said they were worried about bank security since these financial fiascos, and 16% said they’d gone back to using cash more frequently, rather than just relying on bank and credit cards.
In April, an attempted systems upgrade by TSB left millions of customers locked out of their mobile and online accounts. Many people are still experiencing problems. Then in June, a systems failure at Visa prevented millions of card payments throughout the UK and Europe.
The survey found that 80% of people now keep emergency cash at home and while the majority have less than £100, one in ten keeps between £200 and £500 and 4% more than £500.
According to figures by GoCompare Home Insurance, which carried out the survey, the average amount of cash held at home is £187 – £7.7bn in total.
When it comes to hiding places, 36% have a home safe, 18% put their cash in a tin, 6% store it under the floorboards and 4% put it under the mattress.
Georgie Frost, consumer advocate at GoCompare Home Insurance, said: “The temporary collapse of Visa’s payment system coming hot on the heels of the unprecedented online banking failure at TSB has clearly left many consumers worried about their reliance on technology and card payments. So, it’s unsurprising that more people are now choosing to use cash more frequently and store sums at home to tide them over any future problems.
“However, some of the sums being stashed at home are eye-watering! If you decide to keep a reasonable amount of cash at home, check your home insurance to make sure you have the cover you need.”