A recent survey by online voucher code website My Voucher Codes has revealed that 37% of people in relationships in Britain are lying to their significant others about their level of debt. These lies include not revealing exactly how much they owe or failing to disclose any debt they have. Most Brits have credit cards, mortgages and overdrafts, and 5% also owe money to payday loan companies.
The average household in Britain has £54,636 of money owing, and the money saving website My Voucher Codes decided to see how many people were being truthful about whether they have debt, what they owe it for, and how much they have.
There were 1,896 British adults surveyed, and all of them were either currently in a long-term relationship or had been in one at some point over the last year.
The first question was about whether or not the respondent had debt, and if they had lied to their partner about how much they have. While 63% said their partner knew how much they owed, 37% admitted to lying about their debt.
Of those 37%, almost half (47%) said that they had told a big porker- saying they had no debt at all, when they were actually in debt. 35% said they glossed over exactly how much they owed, while 18% went the other way and convinced their partner they had more debt than they actually did so they wouldn’t need to pay as much on joint bills.
The next question was about finding out exactly what the respondents owed money on. A large majority of the debt in question was for mortgages, which is a much healthier financial situation than those who had credit cards and store cards. 
15% of respondents had bank loans, 10% of those surveyed had store card, 38% were in debt due to store cards, 21% of people had overdrafts, 13% were paying off a hire purchase, 5% were unfortunately owing payday loans, 45% owned a home and therefore had a mortgage, 22% had student loans to pay off, 4% owed money on their rent, and 2% owed utility companies such as power and gas.
My Voucher Codes’ general manager Chris Reilly discussed the survey’s results. “Being in debt is a big worry for people in the UK,” Mr Reilly said, “However, it’s not something to be ashamed of and no reason to lie to a partner about how much money you owe. It’s surprising that the results show so many people have been deceptive with a partner about their debts. Mr Reilly also said that while this may seem like a little white lie at first, it can easily spiral out of control.
He suggested that talking to a money management advice agency can be a great idea as it’s important to get in control of your finances. It’s also important to talk to your partner and be honest with them. For more information, read this article.