Even as more Australians keep a closer eye on their expenses and make smarter spending choices, bill shock from unexpected bills continues to catch a quarter of Aussies off-guard.
NAB’s latest data shows that while 60% of Australians have a high understanding of their spending, one in four missed a bill payment last quarter, mainly for water and electricity.
To help Australians plan ahead on their bills, subscriptions and regular payments like school fees, NAB is launching Upcoming, a new bill predictor tool in its app, which will roll out to customers this month.
The recent data shows:
Missed payments were highest in the 18-29 age group (41% vs. just 9% among over the 65s)
Phone and internet bills were the most common missed payments, followed by electricity, gas and water
More women missed a payment (29%) compared to men (22%)
Missed payments were highest (33%) in the $75k-100k income group and lowest (22%) in the $35k-$50k group
While people were becoming a lot more sophisticated with their budgeting, NAB Personal Everyday Banking Executive Kylie Young said surprise or unexpected bills were where people often became unstuck.
“Even if you have a good grasp on your finances, it can be difficult to keep track of all of the various bills that come through, with some annual, some quarterly and others monthly,” Ms Young said.
“With Australians having an average of three subscriptions each, these regular payments can also sneak up on people and make it even harder to stay on top of finances.
“It is not always possible to avoid bill shock, as unexpected life events can happen, however being as prepared and on top of your spending as possible can help ease the financial pain.”
Ms Young said there were a number of tools available to avoid bill shock:
Bill prediction tools - many bank apps will have features that help you know what bills you have coming up and help you better plan for them.
Upcoming, a new tool to arrive in the NAB app this month gives a view of upcoming predicted bills for the next 30 days, based on previous outgoing bills, enabling customers to factor these into their budgeting and help remove the surprise element.
Bill smoothing - some utility providers (gas, electricity, water) offer an instalment payment plan or ‘bill smoothing’ where you can arrange to make payments fortnightly or monthly, instead of having to pay the whole amount in one go.
Talk to you provider - ask for a better rate or compare with other providers to save money throughout the year.
Data from NAB Economics Q2 2024 survey of more than 2,000 Australians.
Upcoming will be rolled out to all NAB customers through the NAB App by the end of next month. The tool predicts future bills and subscriptions based on what has been paid in the past from personal accounts.