Brits sitting on a pile of unused foreign currency

British holidaymakers are sitting on a pile of foreign currency according to new research from Santander Credit Cards.  Indeed the research uncovered a colossal £1.75 billion worth of foreign currency lying around the nation's homes this year, as a result of holidaymakers overestimating how much money they'd spend on their trip.

A further £8 million will be discarded or left by holiday makers to gather dust, bringing a totally new meaning to the phrase disposable income!

According to the research the average holidaymaker brings back £74 worth of foreign currency from their holiday. The most popular currency brought back to the UK this year is Euros (72 per cent), US dollars (17 per cent) and Turkish Lira (4 per cent). Santander calculates that leaves more than €1.5 billion and $458 million untouched in British pockets.

Thankfully, more than 15 million people (65 per cent) will keep hold of their currency for another trip, while around 100,000 people will currency speculate and convert their money back to sterling when conversion rates are more favourable. A further £42 million of the unused currency will be donated to charity.

More than 4 million people (17 per cent) will immediately convert a collective £426 million on return to the UK, losing £8 million in the process of reconverting their cash.

Ian Coles, Director at Santander Cards, comments: "We would always expect people to return home with some unused currency - but the amounts that people are bringing back to the UK are unnecessarily high, meaning there is an incredible amount of unused cash floating around the nation's homes.  It's often safer and more cost efficient for holidaymakers to carry only small amounts of cash and pay for other purchases using a credit card. The Santander Zero card offers 0 per cent on purchases for three months and a 0 per cent foreign exchange fee so this may be a more sensible way to spend abroad."