Borrowing money from loved ones dropped by almost a third (30%) in the last year, then a further 44% during lockdown.
Lending money to friends and family also reduced by almost a third (29%) in the last year, then a further third (31%) during lockdown
The main reason for borrowing from loved ones is to pay off other debts
Borrowing money from friends and family has reduced significantly since 2019, and even more so following lockdown, with a 61% decrease in borrowing and a 51% decrease in lending, since March of last year.
According to the latest How
Similarly, lending has also seen a significant decline. The loaning of money to loved ones reduced by almost a third (29%) between
This significant shift in loved ones' borrowing or lending money to each other suggests that recent uncertainty has made people much less likely to be reliant on each other financially. Even before the pandemic hit in
Of those who have borrowed money recently, the main reason for doing so was debt consolidation, with 17% of people citing this as the reason. The second most popular reason was the purchase of a car (15%), followed by home improvements (13%). One in four (25%) Scots lending money to love ones did so without knowing what it was going to be used for.
More than half of Scots (53%) who have borrowed money feel unhappy about doing so as they would have liked to provide for themselves and around a quarter (26%) say they feel comfortable borrowing money from family.
Family and friends who have been lending money are much less likely to be happy about doing so, with just 49% saying they were pleased to be able to help someone out, compared to 58% in 2019, and fewer people expect to be paid back than in 2019 (44% vs 46%).
Regional variations
Those in the
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