The savings knowledge gap – and how finserve brands can help close it

How well do consumers really understand savings products? From traditional savings accounts to ISAs and bonds, there are plenty of tools out there to help people grow their money – yet many remain unsure about what’s available and how it all works.

In a recent survey conducted using the Attest platform, we asked 2,000 US and UK adults how well informed they felt about savings products, and then put their knowledge to the test. The results reveal a significant gap between consumers’ perceived understanding, and their actual knowledge of savings products.  

This knowledge gap is an opportunity for finserve brands to educate consumers about things like tax advantages, savings limits, interest rates, and returns. A better understanding could lead to a higher uptake of savings products, especially the lesser-known ones. 

Quick summary

• 50% of US consumers and 54.5% of UK consumers believe they are well informed about savings products.
• Most cannot identify the best and worst products for returns.
• 5 in 10 Americans and 4 in 10 Brits can’t correctly calculate interest.
• Only 35% of Brits know the annual £20,000 savings limit for ISAs.
• Consumers in both markets are most likely to have a traditional savings account, despite offering the lowest interest rates.

US results

Most Americans are familiar with traditional savings – but few go beyond

The first thing the data highlights is a big discrepancy between awareness of savings products and likelihood to be using them. Traditional savings accounts were the most recognised among US respondents (77%), while Certificate of Deposit (CD) and High Yield Savings Accounts (HYSA) also both enjoy relatively good awareness (61% and 54% respectively).

Just over half of the respondents were aware of Money Market Accounts (MMA), but awareness dropped off for bonds. Only 38% had heard of Series E or I U.S. savings bonds, while 45% had heard of municipal bonds. Cash management accounts had the lowest awareness, at 34% [view US results dashboard].

When it comes to the actual uptake of savings products among US consumers, the figures are significantly lower. Behind the traditional savings account, which 66% of Americans have, less than a quarter have a HYSA or CD. Only around 16% have an MMA or a cash management account, and around 11% have bonds. This suggests that barriers to entry – whether logistical, educational or behavioral – remain significant.

Consumers (wrongly) consider themselves well informed about savings products

One challenge finserve brands may face in educating consumers about savings products is that they already consider themselves pretty well informed. Overall, 50% of consumers said they are well informed about what’s available to them to help grow their money (although only 15% said they are “very well informed”). 

Less than a quarter of respondents said they were poorly informed on savings products, but 27% did admit to being somewhere in the middle when it comes to their knowledge.

Despite this self-confidence, when we asked respondents to identify the savings products with the highest and lowest Annual Percentage Yield (APY), a lack of understanding became apparent. For example, only 21.5% identified Certificate of Deposits as offering a high APY when, in reality, they yield some of the highest fixed rates, typically in the 4.5%–5% APY range.

Meanwhile, although half of respondents correctly identified traditional savings accounts as offering the lowest APY, 13% thought they provided the highest. Only 13% thought municipal bonds offered a high rate of return, however, top-rated 30-year municipal bonds are yielding about 4.56%, and are tax-exempt federally making a tax-equivalent yield above 7% possible. 

Confusion around how interest rates work

A lack of numeracy skills among the American public may explain the continued reliance on low-interest savings accounts. Many big-name banks offer virtually no interest – for instance, Bank of America’s Advantage Savings account pays just 0.01% APY, but but basic savings accounts remain the most popular savings vehicle. 

Our data shows the problem is that many people simply don’t understand how interest rates work. When we asked them to calculate how much interest they would earn in a year if they deposited $1,000 at a fixed annual interest rate of 3%, just over half correctly answered $30. 

Nearly 16% of respondents said $300, while around 9% answered $3 and $33. Only 15% admitted they didn’t know how to calculate interest. These results should serve as a reminder to finserve brands that financial literacy isn’t just about access to information, but the ability to apply it.

UK results

Ownership of savings products lags behind awareness

British consumers have reasonably high awareness of the different savings products on the market but when it comes to actual ownership, the figures are much lower. For example, while 75% of respondents had heard of a Cash ISA (making it the product with the highest overall awareness), a lesser 47% of people have one [view UK results dashboard]. 

Likewise, 60% of the respondents had heard of Premium Bonds (NS&I), yet only 24% have them. And while 55% are aware of Lifetime ISAs (LISAs), a tiny 13.5% of consumers use them. This suggests that while awareness of financial tools may be pretty high, finserve brands need to do more to translate that knowledge into action.

Meanwhile, there’s an opportunity to promote products that are less well known among UK consumers, including the Help to Save account for people receiving Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit (recognised by 33%), and the Innovative Finance ISA, which allows people to invest in peer-to-peer lending or crowdfunding debt-based investments (17%). 

Both of these products have a small uptake (12% and 8% respectively), showing large scope for growth – especially the Help to Save account. Following a change in eligibility criteria introduced in April 2025, approximately 3 million people are now eligible to open a Help to Save account.

Awareness doesn’t equal understanding

Our research shows that while a large percentage of consumers have heard of various types of ISAs,  knowledge about them is much lower. Only 35% of Brits could correctly identify the annual £20,000 savings limit for ISAs.

While 30% of respondents admitted they didn’t know how much they could save into an ISA each year, 15% incorrectly answered £9,000, 11% thought it was £15,000, 6% said £18,000, and 5% answered £24,000, highlighting the scale of the confusion. 

This is despite recent media coverage of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ proposal to lower the annual Cash ISA limit to £4,000-£5,000. Her aim is to encourage a shift toward Stocks & Shares ISAs, but our data suggests the government will need to launch a higher profile education campaign to achieve the goal.

Although 68% of respondents in our survey were aware of Stocks and Shares ISAs, only 30% have one. This suggests they are unaware that Stocks and Shares ISAs can offer much higher returns than Cash ISAs. According to the Guardian, investing £10,000 in a FTSE All-Share tracker over ten years could grow to nearly £18,000, versus around £11,500 in a Cash ISA. 

4 in 10 Brits failed a basic interest rate calculation

Core to any education campaign should be explaining how interest rates are calculated, since Attest’s data uncovered a notable lack of understanding. We asked respondents to calculate how much they would earn if they invested £1,000 at a 3% annual interest rate. 

While the correct answer – £30 – was selected by 62% of people, 14% thought it was £300, 8% said £33, and 6% answered £3. A further 10% said they didn’t know. These responses suggest that understanding of even basic financial maths remains limited among a significant proportion of the population.

The inability to calculate interest rate is no doubt contributing to confusion among UK consumers about which financial products offer the best returns. Only 10% of Brits think Regular Saver Accounts/Building Society Monthly Savers provide high interest, yet these accounts offer some of the best fixed returns – up to 7.5% AER for limited monthly deposits.

Similarly, only 13% of respondents think NS&I fixed-rate bonds are among the best products for returns, but these provide a solid 4.18% AER (slightly below the top market rates but government-backed for security). Despite these clear misconceptions, 54.5% of consumers believe they are well informed about savings products (only 20% think they are poorly informed).

Meanwhile, although people are most likely to rate traditional savings accounts as offering the lowest rate of return, it remains the savings product they’re most likely to own (55%). With traditional easy‑access savings account AER currently standing at around 2.3%, millions of savers stand to benefit by moving to a different savings vehicle. 

What this means for financial services brands

In both the UK and the US, financial services brands face a common challenge: bridging the gap between recognition and informed usage.

Consumers know the names of products, but often struggle to compare them or calculate returns. Messaging that focuses on rates or technical features may miss the mark if people don’t understand the fundamentals.

Brands that position themselves as educators and simplifiers, breaking down the what, why and how of savings, stand to drive adoption.