Smartphone users could pocket extra £3,500 by letting bank app send these alerts
You should never say no to free money, and that's why residents of the United Kingdom might want to consider downloading one major app that gives you an extra £3,500 just for receiving notifications.
The cost of living crisis across the world has made keeping your finances healthy a challenge for many, and that's especially the case in the UK where the price of everything only seems to be going up.
Outside of switching jobs or getting a pay rise it often feels like there's little you can actually do to increase your earnings, and while the stock market and investments can prove fruitful, those gains often only manifest over a longer period of time.
That's why you should rightfully pay attention to a new initiative by leading bank Lloyds, as it has just shared research that could make upwards of £100 billion ($136.2 billion) available to households across the UK if one simple thing happens across the next 10 years.
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As reported by the Independent, this research relates to the benefit of digital banking tools for customers, which could provide the equivalent of around £3,500 ($4,767) per household upon the period's conclusion.
It specifically involves digital alerts that aim to help you be smarter with your money and more aware of your finances, including app-based tools that alert you when you're about to go into the red or your overdraft, or notifications that highlight better deals on mortgages and credit cards.
These notifications could also push you in the direction of aforementioned investments if you've already got the money lying around, in addition to providing debt management tools for affected individuals and better bill tracking to help you make sense of your spending.
Jas Singh, CEO of Consumer Relationships at Lloyds Banking Group, has shared the reasoning and methodology behind these notifications, indicating that "it's a fine balance between where we see we should lean in further and where it's extremely reactive."
He adds that in his own experience, "it works best to make suggestions to people which are contextual to them and their life circumstances," noting that "if the bankers were giving you notifications to say, 'I can see you've just spent on a coffee at Costa', I'm not sure that's the role society expects banks to play.
"'How much have I spent on coffee last month' — I think that's a more relevant place to be in," Singh asserts, suggesting that it's more about providing information and suggestions from that instead of directly challenging customers on their spending habits.