One in ten Irish people keep a secret bank account

Survey says that one in six lie to their partner about their debts.

IF YOU THINK something doesn’t add up about your partner, try looking into their financial details.

Sixteen per cent of those interviewed for a survey by lastminute.com said they had hidden a bank statement or credit card from a partner. The survey found that women aged between 35 and 44 were most likely to do so.

Overall, 14 per cent of women said they had concealed debts, while only 11 per cent of men had kept their debts secret. However, 24 per cent of women surveyed said they had been lied to by a partner about money – 14 per cent of men believed they had been lied to.

Nearly one in ten of those questioned said they had a bank account that their partner didn’t know about – 34 per cent of those said the account held more than €5,000. The reasons they gave for keeping the account a secret included security in case of a break up (14 per cent of the women; 1 per cent of the men). Most of the men who had concealed accounts said that they simply felt that their finances were their own business.

Even so, the men surveyed were more likely to find financial infidelity harder to forgive than sexual infidelity (14 per cent as opposed to 8 per cent of the women).

Unsurprisingly, given those results, 12 per cent of people say they don’t like talking about finances with their partner.

If you are so inclined, Howtodothings.com has a checklist on how to open a bank account without your partner’s knowledge. Final bit of advice? Be a bit more discreet than these punters:

One in ten Irish people keep a secret bank account

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Cash only: Bertie Ahern is NOT one of those Irish people who has said they have kept a bank account secret from their partner. In fact, he claims he had no bank account at all until December 1993. PA Images/Niall Carson

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