Council Tax Bill Most Commonly Paid Late

A new study conducted by the UK’s leading discount website has revealed that council tax is the bill that is most commonly paid late by Britons. The results came from research into the spending habits of Britons and how frequently bills were paid later than they should have been.

Latest research from the UK’s leading discount website has revealed that council tax is the bill that is most likely to be paid late each month by Britons, with mobile phone contract bills coming in at a close second. The poll formed part of ongoing research into the outgoings of members of the British public and how frequently they were late, if at all, paying their bills each month.

www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk polled a sample of 1,357 Britons, aged 18 and over, and asked respondents questions about their monthly bills. When asked, ‘Do you ever pay bills late?’ 32% of those polled answered ‘yes’. Those who said ‘yes’ were then asked which bills they most commonly failed to pay on time.

The results, according to MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, were as follows:

• Council Tax                               36%
• Mobile phone contract                 31%
• Gas and/or electric                      29%
• Rent/Mortgage                           17%
• TV/Phone/Broadband                  13% 

When asked how often they paid bills late, 46% said they did so ‘frequently’, whilst 38% said ‘every now and then’ and 16% said ‘rarely’. When asked why they thought they paid bills late, 19% blamed their ‘forgetfulness’ for doing so, whilst 34% said they often had to wait until they had the money.

Of the respondents who claimed to never pay bills late, more than three quarters, 77%, said it was due to the fact they had direct debits set up, to ensure all bills left their bank account on time. Just over 1 in 10, 12%, said it was simply because they were ‘organised’. 8% claimed that they were not the person in charge of paying the bills.

When MyVoucherCodes.co.uk questioned those who paid bills late further, two thirds, 64%, claimed it didn’t worry them. Furthermore, 29% said they had received a ‘red letter’ in the past chasing their payment and 13% said they had been contacted by debt collectors.

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, spoke about the study:

“Paying bills late is easily done, especially if you don’t have direct debits set up for all of your outgoings. Some people aren’t as keen to have direct debits and prefer to pay bills individually as and when it is needed and that’s perfectly fine as long as you can keep on top of it.

I was quite surprised that council tax was the bill most commonly paid late by Brits, because that’s really the one that can get you in the most bother. It’s important to budget each month so you always have enough for your bills when they need to be paid.

LINK http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, contact Shannon Haigh of 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on shannon@10yetis.co.uk or 01452 348211.

Editor’s Notes

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 30, his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

Mark appeared as a ‘Secret Millionaire’ in the series on Channel 4, in which he donated £115,000 of his own money to worthy causes.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year

Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

MyVoucherCodes is the UK’s most popular discount site.