Savings apathy rife among younger savers

A further 14% admit they never check their savings accounts.

One area where younger people do top the tables is in having a savings goal. People in the under 25 age group are the most focussed with their saving as 22% are saving with a particular aim in mind, compared with just 12% of over 55s.

Peter Bull, head of HSBC in the community, said: ''HSBC believes that it is never too early for young people to begin to learn the basics of managing money and the importance of budgeting and saving.

“That is why we are supporting What Money Means in partnership with the Personal Finance Education Group which is a financial education programme aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of personal finance education in primary schools."

While younger savers are most ignorant, savings apathy is fairly high amongst all savers. More than three quarters of UK savers (78% or 30.4 million people) don't know the interest rates of their accounts while half (58%), equalling 22.6 million people don't know the balance of all their savings accounts.

Men keep a slightly closer eye than women on their accounts, as 70% check their balance regularly compared with 62% of women.

Awareness of interest rates is also higher amongst men, as 28% of males know the interest rates of their accounts, compared with just 13% of women.

Londoners are least likely to know the interest rate on the savings account (84%) while people in the Midlands are most likely to know exactly how much interest their savings pot is earning (27%).

Yorkshire savers are least likely to know the current balance of their savings account (65%) while Midlanders are most likely (54%)

Some 40% of savers in Wales say they rarely check their savings accounts while savvy Scots are most likely to check regularly, three quarters (75%) of savers say they check their accounts often.

Savers in the Midlands are most focussed on savings for something in particular; 22% have a savings goal in mind, compared to just 9% of South Western savers.