The Great British public are preparing to enjoy unrestricted nightlife from the 21^st June, but are banking on losing their credit or debit cards in the process. New research from Zopa predicts that a whopping 13 million bank cards¹ will be misplaced during the biggest summer of freedom.  

As 21 million people plan to head out on Monday 21^st June and contactless payments remain the preferred method of payment, neobank Zopa commissioned research to find out more about the nation’s bank card misplacing habits. This summer, nearly a quarter (24%) say they expect to lose their card when all restrictions lift. 

Lost cards are commonplace for the nation, as 46% said that they’d previously lost a bank card in their lifetime. 28% said they lost their card while out and about, and a quarter said they misplaced it on a night out while at the pub, a bar or in a club. When asked what the main reason was for losing their bank card, 28% blamed it on the booze, 27% say they were having too much fun, while more than half (53%) feel it was due to their general forgetfulness.  

Misplacing a bank card can be irritating for anyone, but there’s a growing concern about fraudulent activity via contactless payments, with more than two thirds (67%) worried about this activity should they misplace their card. Of the respondents that had lost a bank card previously, over 30% said fraudulent contactless payments were made before they could cancel or freeze their card, with the average amount of money fraudulently spent hitting £40. 

Encouragingly, Brits are already planning their ‘freedom budget’ to make sure they have the funds set aside for their first big night out on 21st June. Nearly one in five (19%) are budgeting to spend £100 on their first night out post restrictions lifting, while 12% are budgeting £200 and one in 10 (10%) will spend over £300. 

After more than a year of evenings on the sofa, Zopa is on a mission to help the nation have the best time it possibly can post restrictions. To help ensure the nation feels great about their long planned night out – with no unexpected bill attached, Zopa is encouraging Brits to see the beauty of the card freeze capability available across many mobile banking apps.  

Clare Gambardella, Zopa’s Chief Customer Officer said: “The nation is, rightly, excited for remaining restrictions to lift on 21^st June. The last thing that we should be worried about is losing our credit cards, that’s why Zopa is encouraging an approach of ‘don’t need it, freeze it’. Freezing and unfreezing your card takes seconds within a mobile banking app like Zopa, so if you find yourself not needing to use your card on a night out, you can easily freeze your card to safeguard against unwanted payments, either from yourself if you are sticking to a budget or from anyone who may come across your card if you misplace it. 

“Alongside freezing their card – at Zopa, our customers can fully manage their credit card from the app. They get real time balance updates, spend breakdowns and the ability to set aside part of their credit limit with our Safety Net feature, all of which helps them to stick to their ‘freedom budget’ if they want to” 

As we head towards a period of national elation, some may find themselves having to foot the cost of a lost card too. According to the research, 31% of Brits are unaware of how much their bank charges for a replacement card. While not all providers charge for replacement (Zopa do not), of those that do, the average cost for a new card came out at £7.  

Zopa’s credit card is a great addition to this year’s summer of freedom as it gives customers full control over their spending. Offering the freeze function as standard, Zopa’s credit card also has all the spending features you’d expect from a banking app including spend tracking and real time balance updates. The unique Safety Net feature allows customers to lock away part of their available credit limit, giving them peace of mind that credit is available for life’s little surprises and separate from their everyday spending this summer.