Financial FAQs
The last few months have been an uncertain time financially, with many of us facing concerns over issues such as bills, work and rent/mortgage payments.
And unfortunately, many of us aren’t as clued up on finance as we’d like to be, so find ourselves turning to the web for help. But what questions have we been asking the most when it comes to our wallets?
We’ve analysed Google search volume from the last twelve months to see what are the nation’s biggest financial concerns.
Most Asked Saving Questions
The biggest query overall was a very simple and straightforward one: “how to save money?”. Especially at the moment, the first steps of saving can be the hardest, whether it’s for the long or short-term, but there are lots of strategies and tools that you can use to get started.
The second most common question regarding savings was ‘what is an ISA?”. ISA stands for Individual Savings Account and allows you to save tax-free into a savings or investment account.
Most Asked Credit Card Questions
Credit cards can be another confusing topic, with over 54,000 people each year wanting to know “how does a credit card work?”.
Common things which stump people when it comes to credit cards are “what is my credit score?” and “what is a balance transfer credit card?”.
A balance transfer credit card is a type of card which allows you to help pay off outstanding credit card debt by moving the balance from one card to a new one, at a 0% interest rate click here to find out more about balance transfer credit cards.
Most Asked Loans Questions
The most asked questions when it came to taking out loans was “what is APR?”, with over 73,000 annual searches. APR stands for annual percentage rate and is the total cost of borrowing money over the course of a year, including the cost of the interest rate as well as any fees that are automatically added to the loan, such as arrangement fees.
There were also many people wanting to know more about bridging loans, which are a type of short-term loan, with the idea being that they ‘bridge the gap’, in situations such as if you’re buying a new home before selling your old one.
There were also over 20,000 searches from people looking for support from the government’s ‘Bounce Back Loan’, a special business loan designed to help small businesses quickly access funds to help get back on their feet in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Most Asked Mortgage Questions
Applying for a mortgage is a big step, so it’s natural that there are a lot of questions out there, especially for first-time buyers. The most commonly asked of these questions was “how long does a mortgage application take?”, with over 20,000 annual searches.
This varies from case to case but usually takes up to a month. Obviously, this will be longer if your situation is a little more complex, and the coronavirus pandemic has been adding time onto applications too. Read our ‘How to apply for a mortgage’ guide for more information.
Brought to you by our credit card experts at comparethemarket.com.
Methodology
All figures related to the total number of Google searches made in the UK between October 2019 and September 2020.