Check Sofa For Riches
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010Forget the bank loan, look down the back of the sofa.
The latest Halifax research report reveals that a bank loan should only be contemplated after a good dig down the back of the family settee, because they reckon that over £43 million could be lost down amongst the cushions.
The research by the Halifax bank has found that 65% of Brits regularly dig out loose change from various hiding places; the sofa being one of the most nefarious for snaffling all of those loose coins. Topping the ‘league table’ of places where loose change is regularly found are pockets. 39% of Brits in the study claimed they found loose change regularly in their pockets, with the bottom of a bag coming in at 36%. The car and down the back of the sofa took the last two places.
The actual amounts of loose change are high; the study revealed that in a desk drawer, for example, the highest value of loose change is around £3.59. On average, the British estimate they have about £17.69 of loose change scattered around these various places.
The study also highlighted a difference between the two genders. Whilst the average minimum of change that a Brit would stop to pick off the street is 50p, this rises to 61p for men and falls to 47p for women. A generation difference has also been revealed, with the younger generation tending to turn their noses up at picking change up off the street that isn’t more than 87p, whereas the older generation would pick up an average minimum of 24p.
In Yorkshire and Humberside, people don’t pick change off the street for nothing, and have an average minimum of 94p; just across the border in the North East, they are much less fussy, picking up a minimum average of 24p.
Three quarters of Brits save their change in one place; a jar full of coppers or a bag full of silver coins are a common sight in many British households according to this study.
“These figures prove that we should no longer ignore our loose change but manage these small sums more wisely. The old saying ‘take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves’ continues to be firmly the case. We need to recognise this, instead of leaving our loose change languishing down the back of the sofa” says Flavia Palacious Umana, Head of Products, Halifax savings, says.
So the advice from Halifax, and one can imagine from many of the country’s banks, is to take a dig around the back of your sofa or the floor of your car before considering taking out that bank loan; who knows how much you may find.
Guest Article by Neil Camp






My name is Alan Potts and I'm the Editor of the BUYability web site and Managing Director of BUYability Limited. You can connect with me or keep up to date with new posts on this blog via the following social media sites: 








