Are you feeling the squeeze?

More than a third of the population felt the squeeze in October, according to our monthly Consumer Insight survey. That’s 10.2 million households struggling. However, not everyone’s on the same level of financial distress.

That’s where the Which? Squeezometer comes in, which uses our survey to group peoples’ experiences of financial difficulty into five levels of severity.

Which? Squeezometer – what level are you on?

Of the 10 million households who have been feeling the squeeze, 2.3 million fall into the most severe category (level 5) as they’ve defaulted on a loan, bill or housing payment. And 1.5m (level 4) took out one or more unauthorised overdrafts or payday loans, just to make ends meet. You can see how these people compare to those in less serious financial situations in our Squeezometer picture to the left (click to enlarge).

Two thirds of people also told us that the UK economy has had a negative impact on their personal finances. So, ahead of the Autumn Statement, we’re calling on the government to put consumers at the heart of measures to drive economic recovery. Our executive director Richard Lloyd said:

‘With 10 million households feeling the squeeze and consumer confidence remaining low, the government has a job on its hands to convince people that everything possible is being done to keep unavoidable costs like energy and food bills under control.’

It’s energy and food that most people are worried about at the moment – with three quarters saying they’re either ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ worried about these areas. This compares to two thirds who are worried about future tax levels, interest rates on their savings, the value of their pensions and public spending cuts.

How has the current economic climate affected your finances? Are you cutting back, and what do you think can be done to improve your financial situation?