Fight the flabby finances

British consumers are in need of a financial workout, experts have warned.

Women, even more than men, seem to stay loyal to utility, credit card, mortgage and home insurance providers rather than comparing prices every year at renewal time.

Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, head of mortgages at Abbey, said: "There's certainly more that we can all do to improve our financial fitness.

"It's all about discipline, in the same way that you can be physically disciplined if you decide to get physically fit.

"The other big thing for women is they tend to save up less than men do, so actually about 70 per cent of women say that they don't have savings for any more than three months, so they wouldn't be able to survive in an emergency that went on over that period of time."

A survey by DebtHelpUK also found that Brits had five times as many credit cards than our European counterparts.

30/01/2008 12:01:12