Half of Scots ignore bank statements

NEARLY half of Scots put off opening their bank statements or leave them unopened because they don’t want to face up to the state of their finances, a study has claimed.

A total of 44 per cent of Scots respondents admitted ignoring their statements, according to the research for Barclays.

The figure for the UK as a whole was 33 per cent, which the authors of the study said could equate to nine million bank statements going unopened each month across the UK.

About one in 14 people said they did not like seeing where their money had gone and similar numbers said they were constantly in their overdraft and did not want to be reminded or they simply wanted to pretend their finances were fine.

The findings come after research from Aviva found last week that households were facing an income gap of about £466 a month between what they were taking home and the amount they felt they needed to live comfortably.

Inflation hit its lowest level for nearly three years in September, but experts predict it will go up in the coming months from energy bill hikes and increases to food costs.

More than 2,000 adults took part in the survey in October.