Uncovered By Visa – Australians Lose One Third Of Their Cash Spend Each Week

Learn why Australians are the worst cash spenders in the world as was uncovered by an international Visa survey and how this could affect your financial situation.

Visa has uncovered a shocking reality in a recent international survey with their customers. About one third of the weekly cash spend is lost by Australians – unaccounted for, mysteriously gone!

When you take into account the current state of the economy this is no small event for most Aussies as most struggle with their finances as is.

Apparently we are among the worst cash handlers in the world says the survey. With over 12,000 Visa users from 12 markets worldwide surveyed Australians cannot account for $59 a week in their cash budget. By all means this is a lot of money when you scrape together cash from all sources to pay the running household bills.

Weekly cash loss of 34% amounts to $3,068 each year:

Can you afford to lose that much money, not knowing where it ended up? What’s even more scary is the fact that this figure is more than DOUBLE of the international survey average. So what do we do with this missing cash? How come we can’t account for it?

Perhaps we suck at creating budgets which is understandable in some ways. However, when you take into account the fact that the Japanese only lose track of $11/week you’ll have to ask yourself what they do different to us.

US consumers on the other hand can’t account for $21 of their weekly cash spending.

Visa’s General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Chris Clark said : “Most people simply cannot afford to be losing close to $60 a week. This should be a concern for many, particularly at the start of a new year, and also in these tougher economic times.”

It seems our cash is mostly lost by doing the following activities each week. Can you recognise your own shortcomings?

• Food and grocery shopping (44 percent).
• A night out or socialising (40 percent).
• Leisure shopping/impulse spending (38 percent).
• Snacks (30 percent).
• Dining out (24 percent).

The survey also shows hardly any difference in the male and female quarters. It seems we are just as bad as each other when it comes to burning up cash on willy nilly stuff.

While the state of the economy has certainly helped to make more people aware of their financial situation one in five admit they still spend too much on mystery purchases.

Mr Clark stated 38 percent of people use cash as their primary method of payment for personal and household expenses, followed by debit card (34 percent) and credit card (23 percent).

“The research shows that people who use debit cards say that it helps them keep an eye on their spending. In the current economic environment, people are more budget-conscious and using debit cards instead of cash can help them stick to a budget and better track where their money is going,’ he said.

Here are some more survey findings:

While men and women are close in the statistics the survey did show women are more likely to lose track of their money while out grocery shopping (50 percent), and men are worse when they are out with their mates at night (44 percent).

• The age group most likely to spend the most cash each week is between 25-34 years of age.
• Out of that group, one in five claims their mystery spending is out of control.
• One in five men in Australia and one in four females say they are losing track of more cash than a year ago.
• More than 50 percent of Australians are trying harder to stick to a budget – 48 percent of males and 56 percent of females.
• 59 percent of consumers who use debit cards think the card helps them to control their spending. Nearly half of adults with a debit card (48 percent) agree that using a debit card keeps their mystery spending to a minimum.

Credit Card Offer Comparison

		Interest Rate (p.a.)	Balance Transfer Rate (p.a.)	Annual Fee	Cash Advance Rate (p.a.)
Bankwest Breeze MasterCard	A low interest rate on everyday purchases with a low balance transfer offer	0% for 4 months (reverts to 11.99% )	0% for 6 months	$59	21.99%
Citibank Clear Platinum Card	A low interest rate offer on balance transfers and purchases	0% for 6 months (reverts to 11.99% )	0% for 6 months	$49 annual fee for the first year ($99 thereafter)	21.74%
St.George Vertigo	An introductory offer on balance transfer and a low annual fee	13.24%	2.99% for 6 months	$0 annual fee for the first year ($55 thereafter)	21.49%
Virgin Australia Velocity Flyer Card	Earn 1 velocity point per $1 spent, plus an introductory offer on balance transfers	20.99%	2.9% for 6 months	$129	20.99%
Westpac 55 Day Credit Card	No annul fee for the first year with a low rate on balance transfers and purchases	0% for 5 months (reverts to 19.59% )	0.99% for 9 months with 1% handling fee	$0 annual fee for the first year ($30 thereafter)	21.49%