Tuesday 15 March 2011

MR 11-49 Attachment 2 - ASIC consumer financial confidence survey

Overall finding

About half of Australians are NOT confident they are getting the best deal when making important financial decisions.

• 57% of population with credit card (7,112,000) are NOT confident that they are getting the best deal on their credit cards
• 45% of population with a mortgage (3,609,000) are NOT confident that they are getting the best deal on their mortgage
• 48% of population who have superannuation (7,107,000) are NOT confident that they have it sorted.

Australians don’t often seek independent expert advice when making important financial decisions.

• 84% of people with credit cards did not seek independent expert advice on the matter
• 54% of people with a mortgage did not seek independent expert advice on the matter
• 67% of people who set up a super did not seek independent expert advice on the matter

This demonstrates that many consumers don’t know where to go for independent information or how to make the best choice and find out what’s important in choosing a credit card, mortgage or superannuation.

Nearly all Australians (92%) think it would be useful if all Australians had access to a free and independent source of help on financial matters such as managing their money or how to reach their financial goals.

Credit cards

57% (7,112,000) of Australians are unsure or don’t think they have the best deal on their credit cards. 84% of people (9,540,000) who have credit cards did not seek independent expert advice on the matter.

Of those who have credit cards:

• GENERAL: 84% of people with a credit card get no independent advice on credit cards yet 25% are confident they didn’t get a good deal; and 33% are either NOT confident, or don’t know if they got a good deal
• YOUTH: Less 25 to 49 year olds (37%) are confident they are getting the best deal on their credit card than 16-24 year olds (42%). The highest numbers of confident people are in the 65+ age group but still 45% of them are unsure
• AN ISSUE FOR 25 to 49 YEAR OLDS: Less 25-49 year olds than any other age group are confident that they think they’re getting the best deal out of their credit cards. Reasons for this are likely to be due to a very high proportion of the 25-49
• year age group have a mortgage. Only 27% don’t have a mortgage compared to 72% of 50+ or 87% of 16-24. Hypothesis they may be more aware of the LOW rate of mortgages compared to credit cards, or that they should bundle CC into mortgage offer. Other age group’s confidence that they are getting the best deal on their credit cards is: 65+ are 55%; 50+ are 49%; 16-24 are 42%; 25-49 are 37%. (Average is 43%, so 25 to 49s are below average).
• STATE: More people in SA (32%) are confident that they DON’T have a good deal on their credit card, than in any other state. Less Victorians/Tasmanians likely to think they don’t have a good deal (22%)
• GENDER: Women feel less confident then men that they are getting the best deal on their credit card (47%) to (53%)
• ADVICE: Among those who had sought independent expert advice when getting a credit card half (54%) were confident that they were getting the best deal possible on their credit cards, compared to 34% of those who didn't seek independent advice.

Mortgage

With 46% of people with a mortgage (3,609,000) NOT confident that are getting the best deal on their mortgage, there is a large portion of the population that lacks this assurance. Over half those with mortgages did not seek independent advice (54%).

Young first home buyers seek less advice on mortgages than any other age group and are the least confident that they got the best deal on their mortgage. 65% of 18-24 year olds with a mortgage say they’re unsure or don’t think they got the best deal on their mortgage.

Conversely, 25-49 year old home buyers were the most likely to seek independent advice (56%) and are more confident than any other age group that they got the best deal on their mortgage.

People living outside capital cities were less likely to have sought independent expert advice when choosing a mortgage (37% vs 52%)

• YOUTH: Fewer 16-24 year olds (35%) are confident they got the best deal on their mortgage, compared to any other age group. 25 to 49 year olds (57%) are highest. Average is 55%
• YOUTH: Far more 16-24 year olds (36%) are confident they have did NOT get the best deal on their mortgage compared to 20% for 25-49 year olds. Average is 21%
• YOUTH: Yet fewer 16-24 year olds (27%) than any other age group sought independent advice about their mortgage. Average is 46%; 25-49 year olds (56%); 50+ are 31% and 65+ are 23%
• 25 to 49 YEAR OLDS: More 25-49 year olds (56%) got advice than any other age group, compared to the average (42%)
• ADVICE: 54% of people who have a mortgage did not seek independent advice.

Superannuation

Approximately half of Australians (48% or 7,107,000) are NOT confident they have their super sorted out. Though this statistic improves with age, there are still 29% of the population (1,505,000) aged 50+ who have NOT sorted their super or don’t know if it is.

67% of people (9,413,000) who last joined a superannuation fund did not seek independent expert advice. But among those that did, 67% were confident their superannuation was sorted out, compared to only 49% of all Australians who feel this confidence. It can be inferred that those who got advice, received value and confidence out of it.

• AGE: Under 50s were much less likely to be confident their super was sorted, compared to other age groups; 16-24 at 39% and 25-49 at 41% and 50+ at 72%
• STATE: More people in Victoria//Tasmania are likely to feel confident they have their super sorted than in any other state. Average is 52%. Victoria/ACT is 57% compared to 48% across all other states
• ADVICE: Under 50s were less likely to have sought independent expert advice when choosing a super fund, compared to other age groups; 16-24 at 14%, 25-49 at 28%. The average of ALL people whether or not they have superannuation is 26%. The average of those with super is 33%.