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Poll: 34% of Israelis 'in the red'
New survey finds third of Israelis over-extended in their finances; 5% don't know why
About one third of Israelis are over-extended in their finances, a survey by Bank Otsar Ha'Hayal, of the First International Bank of Israel (Fibi) Group, revealed Tuesday.
According to the data, 23% of Israelis have overdrafts throughout the month and 11% are in the red some of the month.
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The poll spanned 500 participants who have regular checking accounts.
The data also found that surprisingly, one's salary had little to do with one's overdraft habits, as 34.8% of those who said their wages were "above average" were over-extended every month.
The bank also found that 34.4% of Israelis were unaware of the interest charged by banks on an account overdraft.
An age segmentation of the results found that 16.8% of Israelis ages 25-34 were in the red, followed by 37.6% of those ages 35-44, and 39.3% of those ages 45-54.
The majority of those polled – 39.1% – said their finances were over-extended due to "bad financial behavior." Some 31.7% attributed it to a large, one-time expense and 5% said they did not know the reason for their overdraft.
Seventy percent of those polled said they believed the best way to get "back to black" was to reduce their expenses, rather than increase their income.
Bank Otsar Ha'Hayal CEO Israel Trau said that "Financial education is the key here. The average Israeli doesn't know how to balance a checkbook.
"Israel is an expensive place to live; so many people think overdrafts are virtually mandatory. That is not the case – far from it. People have to learn how to plan better financially."
