Brits forked-out a massive £48.7 billion on unexpected bills over the last 12 months, with home repairs bleeding householders dry…

Nearly four in five (79 per cent) were hit by an expense that they had not budgeted for, at an average cost of £1,375 each time.

 Home repairs make up the biggest proportion of unexpected expenditure, with 36 per cent of Britons spending £1,206 each in the last 12 months – costing £19.2 billion in total.  42 per cent of those surveyed were hit by surprise bills, taxes and fees costing an average of £773 each time and 29 per cent said that unexpected travel expenses  cost on average £447 each. 

 Forgotten birthdays and weddings cost a total of £4.3 billion and medical expenses that weren’t covered by insurance cost the nation £2.1 billion in total.  Parking tickets also cost us a whopping £298.2 million!

Over one in three people (37 per cent) dipped into their savings to pay for an unforeseen expense.  A further 37 per cent used their credit card and 13 per cent delved into their overdraft.  Seven per cent borrowed money off a friend or relative and four per cent sold something they owned in order to pay for them (e.g. on Ebay).

Unexpected expense	Number of people affected	Percentage of people affected	Average unexpected expense per person	Total unexpected expense
Repairs to your home	15.9 million	36%	£1,206	£19.2 billion
Bills, taxes, fees etc	18.8 million	42%	£773	£14.6 billion
Travel expenses	12.8 million	29%	£447	£5.7 billion
Birthdays, weddings etc	14.8 million	33%	£285	£4.3 billion
Children's entertainment / gifts etc	10.2 million	23%	£245	£2.5 billion
Medical expenses (not covered by insurance)	4.4 million	10%	£459	£2.1 billion
Parking ticket	4.7 million	11%	£63	£298.2 million
			Total	£48.7 billion

Regionally, those living in the South East were the worst at budgeting, with 83 per cent experiencing an out of the blue expense.  Those living in Wales and the South West were the better budgeters, as only 69 per cent experienced an unexpected expense over the last 12 months (compared with a national average of 79 per cent).

Men ‘more generous’ than women

The Abbey study also reveals a large split in the how men and women account for upcoming events such as birthdays or weddings.  Surprisingly, men appear to be more organised.  While Abbey’s research showed that 9 million women were caught out with a forgotten birthday or wedding gift, only 5.8 million men found themselves in the same situation.

Men were also more generous, shelling out  £367 on average in unplanned gifts last year compared with £226 spent by women.   

Reza Attar-Zadeh, Head of Savings at Abbey, said: “You never know what life is going to throw at you. However, you can prepare for the unexpected through building up a ‘buffer savings fund’ to help deal with these shock events.  Most experts recommend that you build up a fund of at least three months salary in an instant access cash account”.

Source: Abbey