Xmas Spending Habits Revealed

PRESS RELEASE

Xmas Spending Habits Revealed

WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH 2017 – NZCU Auckland today released the findings from a survey conducted amongst its customers regarding their festive season spending and whether or not they are saving for this Christmas.

NZCU Auckland General Manager Rob Collins commented that “we wanted to understand better how prepared our customers were for last Christmas and if they overspent on what they had intended to spend. And the news was not good.”

The Credit Union posed the simple question “Did you overspent last Christmas and if so, by how much?”

Who overspent and by how much?

The results showed that almost a third - 31% - of respondents admitted to overspending and when replying to how much, the average overspend was $1,091. Some couldn’t even quantify how much they had overspent, just making comments like “lots”, “too much” or “don’t know”. There was a common thread through the comments which indicated that many people didn’t have a plan when they started shopping.

One of the more telling remarks was “Problem was I didn't plan and then with bills coming in I had to max my credit cards to buy gifts”.

What’s going to be different this year.

When asked further about their intentions for this year and whether they had learnt any lessons from 2016, 48% of respondents stated they weren’t saving for Christmas 2017.

“We found these results rather sobering,” said Rob, “people acknowledge that they overspent last Christmas and in many cases, put themselves into debt, but then weren’t going to do anything to stop it happening again this year. It doesn’t look like much will change this time next year.”

“This is an area of financial literacy where we believe more work needs to be done. Without a plan to change behaviours, people will just keep making the same mistakes,” said Rob.

Why is NZCU Auckland’s business model working?

“NZCU Auckland’s goal is to help our customers improve their financial wellbeing and we can do that because Credit Unions are unique businesses. They are owned by their customers and run by their customers for the benefit of each other. This business model ensures that customer interests come first and Credit Unions are successful regardless of the financial problems in the rest of the economy.”

Customer satisfaction was also measured in the same survey and resulted in what has been described as a “world class” result. Using the internationally recognised Net Provider Score® (NPS) methodology, NZCU Auckland scored an NPS of +51 compared to the banking industry average of just +13.

“This is one of the best results achieved by any banking organisation in New Zealand and we are immensely proud of it,” said Rob. “It spurs us on to do better next time.”

ENDS

Established in 1965, Credit Union Auckland trading as NZCU Auckland has been providing finance and banking services to the people of Auckland for over 51 years. As a not-for-profit registered Credit Union, it has assisted individuals and community groups in many ways.

Credit Unions are not banks and give the best possible value in financial services to Members while supporting the communities they operate in. They are owned and controlled by their Members to provide banking, savings, loans, and insurance products. They also aim to promote saving, budgeting and the wise use of credit. Profits belong to Members - not corporates, overseas shareholders or the Government.

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