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Encore Announces Findings of Economic Freedom Study
Survey of 2,600 Adults in the U.S. and U.K. Probes Perspectives on Personal Finance and the Economy, Impacts of COVID-19 and What it Means to Achieve Economic
About this update from Encore Capital Group Inc
[{"type":"text","content":"Survey of 2,600 Adults in the U.S. and U.K. Probes Perspectives on Personal Finance and the Economy, Impacts of COVID-19 and What it Means to Achieve Economic Freedom\nSAN DIEGO, Dec. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Encore Capital Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ECPG), an international specialty finance company, today announced the findings of its first Economic Freedom Study. The survey asked 2,600 people in Encore’s largest markets, the United States and United Kingdom, their feelings about personal finances and the economy, and explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. With Encore’s mission of creating pathways to economic freedom as a backdrop, it also asked people what the term “economic freedom” means to them and how they can achieve it. The research was commissioned by Encore and conducted by Morning Consult. A detailed report of the findings is available on Encore’s website, but some of the highlights from the study include: The majority of respondents in the U.S. (57%) and U.K. (55%) still feel positive about their personal financial future, although they’ve grown more pessimistic since the beginning of the pandemic. People in both locations are less certain about the future of the broader economy, with 43% of Americans and 37% of U.K. adults feeling positive. Overall economic sentiment has dropped significantly from pre-pandemic levels in both locations.In both the U.S. (33%) and the U.K. (50%), most people rank credit card debt as their biggest source of stress. However, for low-income Americans, medical debt is ranked as the most stressful (32%).Overall, adults in both the U.S. (64%) and U.K. (64%) believe that having an emergency fund is their top financial goal, but for people from both locations who said credit card and phone/utility debt was their top source of stress, paying down or eliminating debt is a clear priority.More Americans (61%) than their U.K. counterparts (52%) are confident in their ability to pay down debt in the coming year, but they’re aligned on how to tackle their debt – pay it down in small increments over time.In both locations, respondents shared that “economic freedom” means the ability to worry and stress less, save for their children’s education, and being able to make choices. “Our company partners with consumers every day to help resolve their outstanding financial obligations, and we strive to ...