StepChange responds to FCA Financial Lives survey, as new polling shows one in ten relying on credit cards to cover essential household bills
16 May 2025
The FCA’s Financial Lives survey, published today, has revealed one in ten (10%) adults have no savings at all, while one in four (24%) adults have low financial resilience – meaning that they have missed payments, are struggling to keep up with commitments, or don’t have savings to help them through an emergency.
The statistics echo similar findings in new YouGov polling by StepChange Debt Charity, showing that one in ten (10%) UK adults have used a credit card to pay for essential household bills in the past three months, while one in five (19%) have used savings to pay for bills.
StepChange is pleased that the FCA is highlighting the importance of households’ financial resilience in preventing harmful cycles of debt, alongside the transformative impact that debt advice can have on consumers’ financial difficulties.
Richard Lane, Chief Client Officer at StepChange Debt Charity, said:
"When people find themselves facing an unexpected cost or emergency, having a savings buffer can be a lifeline that prevents an escalating debt crisis. For the significant minority of people who don’t, as the FCA figures show, they are left with difficult choices of turning to unaffordable borrowing or going without essentials.
"If people are forced to rely on credit to make ends meet when their finances are thrown off course, this can often draw them deeper into financial difficulty and problem debt.
"As evidenced by the FCA’s research, free debt advice and appropriate financial support can be invaluable in helping people to manage their debt problems and take back control of their finances. So it’s particularly important that firms are proactively signposting customers to debt advice at an early stage.
"It’s vital that the Government uses the upcoming Financial Inclusion Strategy to support more people to build financial resilience. We are calling on the Government to expand the Help to Save scheme and work with employers to expand workplace savings schemes.
"We also want to see the Government invest in safe options for those who can’t afford to save to cope with unexpected costs, including a permanent national crisis support scheme, building on the Household Support Fund and a national no-interest loan scheme, and by working with the financial services industry to expand affordable, low-cost credit."
Free, confidential debt advice is available 24/7 using StepChange's online debt advice service.
Notes to Editors:
- Contact the FCA’s press office for an embargoed copy of the Financial Lives survey
- All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,235 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 7th - 8th May 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+)