Financial infidelity: More common among women
(MoneyWatch) Financial infidelity is not as common as you might think, with 92% of Americans saying that they never hide the details of their financial lives from a significant other. But of the roughly 6 million - or 7% -- who do, the thing they are most often hiding is a credit card account, according to a new poll by CreditCards.com.
Some 67% of those who said they kept a financial secret from their spouse confessed that it was a hidden credit card account. Roughly 45% had secret savings accounts; 38% had hidden checking accounts. Perhaps predictably, 18% of respondents said they had a financial secret, but they weren't going to tell what it was. After all, if they kept the secret from their loved ones, why confess to GfK Roper, which conducted the survey of 1,005 American adults? And, yes, the numbers add to more than 100, because some people hide multiple accounts.
Other findings:
Gender makes a difference: When it comes to hiding savings, about 72% of women said they'd hidden savings vs. just 26% of men.
Marriage matters: You're more likely to hide finances from a significant other than a spouse. Only 5% of married couples said they kept financial secrets from one another, while 19% of unmarried respondents kept their finances close to the vest.
You don't have to share everything: Couples say they don't need to discuss every dime before they spend it. On average, couples said they can spend $266 without permission from the spouse.
For a completely different take on financial infidelity, check out "Beware hidden accounts and packages in the trunk" -- a post on an American Express survey that estimated a much higher economic cheating rate, and asked "How to you hide your financial cheating?"
