Online banking more popular than social networking

The credit crunch is turning Britain into a nation of ‘money-surfing experts' according to the latest research from online bank cahoot. Indeed, the findings show that 38 million Brits have managed their finances online - either at home or at work.

Interestingly, 71 per cent of these ‘money-surfing experts' said that they had increased their online banking activity in the last twelve months as the credit crunch, as well as increasing food and fuel prices has put greater pressure on them to manage their finances more closely.

So much so that Britain is currently spending a colossal 3 billon hours annually moving money around on the internet, at an average of 1.5 hours per week. Surprisingly, this is now significantly more time than is spent on social networking sites, which accounts for 2.7 billion hours online each year.

Banking online is not just about convenience and saving time. cahoot's finds that 82 per cent of regular online bankers say that internet banking makes them better at managing their finances.

Matthew Timms, director at cahoot commented: "While you might be forgiven for thinking that the internet's biggest draw is social networking sites, nowadays it's actually online banking. Indeed, the credit crunch is making Britons far more conscious about keeping in control of their finances.

"As a result we're flocking to internet banking, where we can instantly access and manage our finances at a time and location of our choice as well as pick up some of the best rates on the market."

The cahoot online bank account pays a consistent 3.75 per cent on all balances up to £250,000 and 3 per cent on anything over that. It's fully operational online and people can sign up for texts that tell them when they're approaching their overdraft limit. It has an advance overdraft interest rate of just 11.8 per cent.