Bank of mum and dad facing a funding crisis as children rack up £6,000 in withdrawals
Parents are dipping into savings, eating up their pay packets and even taking out credit cards to provide assistance to their supposedly financially independent children.
Over half of all parents have been tapped up by children over the age of 18 for financial assistance from the “bank of mum and dad”, according to a new survey from Experian, published today.
Most were able to assist by taking money out of savings, but one-third said that requests for help were placing them under financial pressure, with 13 per cent taking out loans to get hold of extra cash.
Read more: Tale of two cities – the winners and losers in the London housing market
Children who received help from their parents made an average of four withdrawals totaling £6,000.
Parents said the main reason they were called upon was to cover an unforeseen expense for which their children had no spare cash. One-quarter, however, said that their children were just bad at managing money.
Read more: London children more reliant on grandchildren
Entrepreneur and investor, Sarah Willingham, said the figures showed that “financial education needs to be higher on the government agenda. The benefits of developing a more financially capable society would create more engaged consumers with better employability and greater entrepreneurialism.”
Figures out earlier this month showed parents plan to lend their children a total of £5bn this year to help them get on the housing ladder – making the bank of mum and dad one of the country’s top 10 mortgage lenders.