Financial phobia

By Sarah Modlock

6 September 2005

There are some things that I never bother reading. Spam e-mail is one. Being a girl, the instruction booklet to any kind of electrical gadget never gets a second glance. Then there are those 'What is he really thinking?' articles in magazines. Life's too short to wonder at the wonderings of men; the Y chromosome will confound us every time.

For nine million people, the sight of financial mail dropping through their letterbox causes their eyes to glaze over. According to research by financial systems firm Docucorp, six out of ten people regularly ignore financial correspondence and would rather read the back of a cereal packet. Lloyds TSB calls it 'balance denial syndrome' which it attributes to customers' worrying about being in the red or not having enough cash for something they want to buy. It now offers internet banking customers free current account mini statements via text message once a week. Of course, there's always the 'delete' button.

Let's face it, bank statements and bills are not exactly a laugh-a-minute. But if you file or bin your grown-up letters without reading them it could be a symptom of a bigger problem. It could be (cue ER theme tune)... financial phobia.

Research carried out by online bank Egg shows that financial phobia is a newly discovered psychological and physical condition, rather than the result of laziness, defiance or negligence. Hmmmm.

According to Dr Brendan Burchell from Cambridge University, author of the report from Egg (yes, really), this syndrome renders its victims incapable of forming a consistent and productive relationship with their money. Sufferers experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms which can have severe consequences on their day-to-day lives. Clear patterns of behaviour include not opening bank statements, never checking bank balances and in the most extreme cases, throwing away or filing unopened statements to avoid dealing with their personal finances altogether.

The condition has some defined physical effects - nearly half report a racing heart, one in ten are physically ill or feel dizzy and one in six find themselves immobilised when faced with the prospect of managing money. If this rings any bells you will be relieved to know that Dr Burchell's research confirms that in general financialphobes are well-adjusted individuals in other psychological and social aspects of their lives. No need for the padded cell just yet then.

Even so, a quarter of sufferers would prefer to give up a day's holiday than reconcile their bank statement and nearly a third would prefer to visit the dentist. Younger people and women have been found to be more susceptible but the phobia is generally ageless and classless.

Bad medicine

If you break out in a cold sweat at the thought of confronting your bank balance, credit card bill or mortgage statement then you are missing big clues to your financial health. Left too long, money problems can move swiftly from irritating to acute or even terminal and when you finally get out of ostrich mode, your treatment options may be more limited than you would like.

Slip behind the screens and let nurse Sarah prescribe effective treatment.

You could be losing out every week if your finances are never reviewed. With endless competition for your business, banks, mortgage lenders, insurers and credit card issuers are always offering better deals. Aim to open those envelopes this week - preferably when you are feeling feisty. Phobias are irrational fears and once you overcome the first hurdle and see the figures for yourself, they may not be nearly as bad you imagined. If they are grim then at least you have the chance to do something about it. Either way, you wont be afraid of the postman any more.

If you are up to you neck in debt there is plenty of help to get you back on track.

Once you know the state of your finances, keep a firm grip on them by opening mail as soon as it arrives and banking online so that you can view your balance and pay bills 24 hours a day.

Don't lose sight of the fact that financial orgainsations make errors. Your mortgage company may have debited your account twice in one month or your bank statement could reveal charges that have been added incorrectly. If you don't look, you will never know.

The other crucial thing you can spot is fraud. If your bank or credit card details have been cloned and someone in Albania is having a good time at your expense it is in your interests to spot it as quickly as possible. Equally, if you fail to receive a regular bank statement or bill then contact the sender. Many fraudsters take any opportunity to steal information which will help them get their hands on your cash or identity.

It's advisable to keep financial mail for your own records if not the tax mans but if you do bin your post after reading it then put it through a shredder first.

Finally, even if you don't read your bank statements, they may be of interest to someone else. More than a third of people snoop on their partner's financial affairs by reading their emails, text messages or bank statements according to research for the credit monitoring company CreditExpert. Cohabiting couples are particularly sneaky, with six out of 10 admitting reading their loved one's personal messages and financial letters. The very wealthy are the most suspicious about their partner's spending, with 50% checking bank statements. There is only one cure for snoopers; show them the door.