Ask consumers how well they understand their own money, and most will say they have it handled. SavvyMoney’s 2026 Consumer Survey suggests the picture is more layered than that.
Consumers answered ten questions about how they make financial decisions, what gets in the way, who they trust for guidance, and how they relate to the banks and credit unions they rely on.
The result is a portrait of a consumer who feels in control, has largely chosen a primary institution, and yet still leaves plenty of room for that institution to earn more of the relationship.
For financial institutions, the openings are not always where you would expect. They sit in the gap between how confident consumers feel and how prepared they actually are, and in the everyday fundamentals that quietly decide whether a consumer stays.
Here are the eight findings that stood out. For each, we start with the question we asked and what consumers said, then the takeaway and what is behind it.
Methodology
Findings are drawn from a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, fielded via Dynata in Q2 ’26. Consumers answered 10 questions about financial confidence, decision-making, goals, trusted sources of guidance, and their relationships with their financial institutions. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not total 100. Questions labeled “select all that apply” permit multiple responses, so their totals exceed 100%. Demographic breakdowns by age, education, income, and gender are drawn from survey crosstabs.
Key Findings
1. How often do you know the impact of your financial decisions before you make them?
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Most of the time: I can predict the impact of most decisions, but not all | 51% |
| Almost always: I typically know the impact before making them | 33% |
| Not often: I usually only understand impacts after making them | 10% |
| Almost never: I mostly rely on guesswork or trial and error | 6% |
Takeaway: Most consumers feel in control of their finances.
Financial confidence is high: 84% say they can predict the impact of their decisions at least most of the time. Because consumers may not welcome support on choices they already feel they understand, financial institutions should approach guidance thoughtfully and prioritize areas where consumers recognize they could benefit from it.
2. If you didn’t have enough money to cover a bill that’s due, which would you do first?
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Use savings to cover it | 37% |
| Scale back spending to cover it within the next few days | 20% |
| Wait to pay it until my next paycheck | 16% |
| Put it on a credit card and pay it off later | 15% |
| Not sure | 10% |
| Take out a loan | 3% |
Takeaway: Consumers’ decisions tell a subtler story about their financial preparedness than their confidence alone suggests.
Despite most consumers believing they could predict the impact of their financial decisions, only 37% would cover a cash shortfall the most predictable way: with savings. Consumers grasp the consequences of their choices but still need help spotting roadblocks early, which is an opening for institutions, as long as guidance meets a decision the consumer has not already written off as solved.
3. How often do you know the impact of your financial decisions before you make them? (by education)
| Response | Some high school or less | Professional degree |
|---|---|---|
| Most of the time | 41% | 40% |
| Almost never | 22% | 0% |
Takeaway: Education builds a floor for confidence, but not a ceiling on uncertainty.
Confidence tracks with education, but only up to a point. Among consumers with some high school or less, 22% almost never know the impact of their decisions beforehand, versus 0% of those with a professional degree, yet the two groups are nearly identical in the middle of the range at 41% and 40%. Uncertainty is not confined to lower-resource segments, so institutions should resist assuming only certain consumers need support.
4. What most often disrupts your progress toward financial goals? (by generation)
| Response | All consumers | Gen Z | Millennials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily expenses becoming more expensive | 32% | 35% | 31% |
| High fixed costs (housing, medical) | 14% | 19% | 19% |
| I lose motivation or consistency | 2% | 3% | 2% |
Takeaway: Younger consumers have not checked out. They are up against real costs.
The idea that younger generations have grown fatalistic about money does not hold up. Losing motivation was the least-cited barrier overall at 2%, and it barely registers for Gen Z (3%) or Millennials (2%). What they cite instead is tangible pressure, with 35% of Gen Z and 31% of Millennials pointing to rising daily expenses, so the opportunity is to help remove real obstacles, not to design for apathy that is not there.
5. Where do you turn first for guidance on major financial decisions?
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Friends or family | 27% |
| I don’t typically seek help for financial decisions | 25% |
| An accountant or financial advisor | 17% |
| My bank or credit union (resources or staff) | 15% |
| Online resources (guides, blogs) | 12% |
| Digital tools (including AI) | 5% |
Takeaway: When the stakes are high, consumers still turn to people, not AI.
Only 5% turn first to digital tools, including AI, for major money decisions. They go to people instead, with 27% turning to friends and family and 17% to an accountant or advisor, while banks and credit unions sit at 15%. The near-term contest is not who has the best chatbot; it is whether an institution can earn the trust consumers reserve for the people closest to them, a higher bar but a more durable advantage.
6. How many institutions do you use for your everyday financial needs?
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| I use the same institution for everything | 42% |
| I use one institution for most of my needs, but not all | 41% |
| I use multiple institutions roughly equally, or don’t have a primary | 17% |
Takeaway: The real battle isn’t winning primacy.
Consolidation is the norm: 83% use one institution for most or all of their financial needs. This challenges the common assumption that consumers are typically spreading their financial lives across many institutions, and suggests institutions might have more to gain by deepening the existing relationships where they already have a solid foothold.
7. Which services do you currently use from your primary financial institution? (select all that apply)
| Service | % |
|---|---|
| Checking account | 79% |
| Savings account | 66% |
| Credit products (credit cards) | 42% |
| Credit tools or services (credit score monitoring) | 21% |
| Mortgage, HELOC or home equity loan | 18% |
| Investment products | 14% |
| Personal loans or lines of credit | 13% |
| N/A, I don’t have a primary institution | 6% |
Takeaway: A checking account starts the relationship. It does not measure it.
Deposits are the foundation, at 79% for checking and 66% for savings, but adoption falls off fast after that: 42% for credit products, 21% for credit tools, 18% for a mortgage or home equity product, 14% for investments, and 13% for personal loans. A consumer who banks with you for checking but borrows and invests elsewhere is primary in name only. The clearest growth is not new relationships; it is closing the distance between where a relationship starts and how far it could reach.
8. What do you weigh most heavily when deciding between credit cards?
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Rewards or perks (cash back, miles) | 34% |
| Interest rate / APR | 22% |
| Monthly payment amount | 18% |
| N/A, I don’t use credit cards | 12% |
| Approval process (chances of approval, time to approve) | 10% |
| Lender’s reputation | 3% |
Takeaway: Rewards have moved from differentiator to expectation.
Rewards are the single most important factor when choosing a credit card at 34%, ahead of APR (22%) and monthly payment (18%). Institutions should treat a competitive rewards program as table stakes, evolving toward finding ways to make rewards feel relevant across the relationship rather than bolted onto a single product.
9. Over the next 12 months, how likely are you to change your primary financial institution? (“very unlikely,” by age)
| Group | Very unlikely to change |
|---|---|
| Consumers 65 and older | 78% |
| Generation X | 48% |
| Millennials | 23% |
| Gen Z | 18% |
Takeaway: Primacy is more fragile than institutions might realize.
Less than 50% of Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z say it’s “very unlikely” they’ll change their primary institution over the next year. Competitors have an opportunity to take more of the relationship. Commitment also scales cleanly with age, from 18% of Gen Z who are very unlikely to switch to 78% of consumers 65 and older.
10. What would feasibly prompt you to change your primary financial institution? (select all that apply)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| My institution increasing fees | 34% |
| Better cash back, miles or other rewards elsewhere | 31% |
| Getting offers for better rates elsewhere | 28% |
| A poor customer service experience | 25% |
| Another institution having more relevant products for me | 21% |
| None of the above would motivate me to switch | 17% |
| A branch for another institution opens closer to me | 13% |
| A recommendation from someone I trust | 13% |
| N/A, I don’t have a primary institution | 6% |
Takeaway: Loyalty is fragile, but the triggers that break it are within institutions’ control.
83% of consumers said at least one common trigger for switching could lead them to change their primary institution. The top choices were ordinary and controllable: fee increases (34%), better rewards (31%) or rates (28%) elsewhere, and poor customer service (25%). There is a loyal floor: the 17% saying nothing would move them. But a floor is not a growth strategy, and the real risk is avoidable churn when institutions under-invest in the fundamentals consumers already leave over.
What this means for financial institutions
Read together, the findings point in one direction. Consumers feel capable and have mostly settled on a primary institution, yet the relationship is shallower and more contestable than that settled feeling suggests. They trust people over machines. They reward the fundamentals and punish lapses in them. And they leave room, often a lot of it, for their institution to earn more of their loyalty and business.
The opportunity is not louder marketing or a flashier app. Most consumers are already digital-first, with 64% using their institution’s digital platforms most or all of the time, so a capable digital experience is now expected rather than differentiating. What sets an institution apart is becoming the guide consumers trust, and deepening the relationship at the right moments, with guidance and offers relevant to where each consumer actually is.
That is the work SavvyMoney is built for: helping financial institutions turn everyday data into personalized credit insights, financial wellness tools, and timely offers that meet consumers with the right thing at the right time. When guidance is relevant, trust grows. When trust grows, so does the relationship.
The full data
Every response option and percentage from the 2026 SavvyMoney Consumer Survey, for reference and citation. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not total 100. Questions marked “select all that apply” allow multiple responses, so their totals exceed 100%.
Q1. How often do you know the impact of your financial decisions before you make them? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Most of the time: I can predict the impact of most decisions, but not all | 51% |
| Almost always: I typically know the impact before making them | 33% |
| Not often: I usually only understand impacts after making them | 10% |
| Almost never: I mostly rely on guesswork or trial and error | 6% |
Q2. What most often disrupts your progress toward financial goals? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Daily expenses becoming more expensive (groceries, gas) | 32% |
| Unplanned expenses | 19% |
| High fixed costs (housing payments, medical expenses) | 14% |
| N/A, I don’t face significant barriers | 13% |
| Difficulty sticking to my budget or controlling non-essential spending | 9% |
| Lower-than-expected income | 8% |
| I don’t know where to start | 3% |
| I lose motivation or consistency | 2% |
Q3. What do you weigh most heavily when deciding between credit cards? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Rewards or perks (cash back, miles) | 34% |
| Interest rate / APR | 22% |
| Monthly payment amount | 18% |
| N/A, I don’t use credit cards | 12% |
| Approval process (chances of approval, time to approve) | 10% |
| Lender’s reputation | 3% |
Q4. If you didn’t have enough money to cover a bill that’s due, which would you do first? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Use savings to cover it | 37% |
| Scale back spending to cover it within the next few days | 20% |
| Wait to pay it until I get my next paycheck | 16% |
| Put it on a credit card and pay it off later | 15% |
| Not sure | 10% |
| Take out a loan | 3% |
Q5. Where do you turn first for guidance on major financial decisions? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Friends or family | 27% |
| I don’t typically seek help for financial decisions | 25% |
| An accountant or financial advisor | 17% |
| My bank or credit union (resources or staff) | 15% |
| Online resources (guides, blogs) | 12% |
| Digital tools (including AI) | 5% |
Q6. How many institutions do you use for your everyday financial needs (spending, saving, borrowing)? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| I use the same institution for everything | 42% |
| I use one institution for most of my needs, but not all | 41% |
| I use multiple institutions roughly equally, or don’t have a primary institution | 17% |
Q7. Which services do you currently use from your primary financial institution? (Select all that apply)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Checking account | 79% |
| Savings account | 66% |
| Credit products (credit cards) | 42% |
| Credit tools or services (credit score monitoring) | 21% |
| Mortgage, HELOC or home equity loan | 18% |
| Investment products | 14% |
| Personal loans or lines of credit | 13% |
| N/A, I don’t have a primary financial institution | 6% |
Q8. How often do you use your primary institution’s digital banking platforms compared to visiting a branch? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| I use digital platforms most of the time | 44% |
| I use digital platforms exclusively | 20% |
| I visit branches about as much as I use digital platforms | 18% |
| I visit my institution’s branch most of the time | 7% |
| N/A, I don’t have a primary financial institution | 7% |
| I visit my institution’s branch exclusively | 5% |
Q9. Over the next 12 months, how likely are you to change your primary financial institution? (Single select)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Very unlikely: I don’t expect to change institutions | 39% |
| Somewhat unlikely: no current plans, but could in the future | 22% |
| Somewhat likely: I’d consider switching for a better option | 20% |
| Very likely: I am actively looking or plan to switch | 12% |
| N/A, I don’t have a primary financial institution | 7% |
Q10. What would feasibly prompt you to change your primary financial institution? (Select all that apply)
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| My institution increasing fees | 34% |
| Better cash back, miles or other rewards elsewhere | 31% |
| Getting offers for better rates elsewhere | 28% |
| A poor customer service experience | 25% |
| Another institution having more relevant products for me | 21% |
| None of the above would motivate me to switch | 17% |
| A branch for another institution opens closer to me | 13% |
| A recommendation from someone I trust | 13% |
| N/A, I don’t have a primary financial institution | 6% |
