A growing number of Brits like to keep their finances simple and use only one provider for all their financial products, new research from Abbey Banking has revealed.

One in five or 8.7million Brits have consolidated all their current accounts and savings with one provider, and a further 8.3million would consider doing so. By contrast the average consumer uses three different financial providers at any one time.

Most respondents said the hassle of constantly logging onto different websites and remembering a multitude of different PINs and passwords had caused them to transfer all financial products to a single provider. Whereas 6 million or 13 per cent have only one PIN or password, the average Briton has to remember three different ones.

Women are more likely to make managing their finances less complicated then men, as 21 per cent of women decided to bank with one single provider compared to 17 per cent of men.

“As banking technology evolves and people have to remember more passwords and PINs, many of us now prefer to keep things simple and use one provider that they can trust to provide good value across the board,” Steve Shore, Director of Abbey Banking, commented.

He adds: “It’s worth noting though, that those with one password for all their accounts should take care to ensure that this is as secure as possible, using a combination of letters and numbers wherever feasible. PIN numbers should be shielded and of course should never be written down.”

The downside of using just one financial provider, even if it offers a broad range of high-performing products throughout, is that consumers might miss out on better rates or conditions from competitors.

In order to find the best deal, it is always worth shopping around for the best interest rates on savings accounts, and taking the time to compare current accounts consumer make a big difference to consumers’ finances.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd