Parents lend their children an extra £520 per year

Parents are playing bank to their children, lending on average £520 each year.

Research by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, found that most parents of children aged 12 – 18 are lending at least £10 every week.

But only one fifth of children are bothering to pay it back.

This will be making a dent in the finances of the 19 per cent of parents being persuaded to lend their child £20 a week, but wise for the 16 per cent who don’t lend their children extra money full stop.

A total of 53 per cent of parents in the study had more than one child, with 56 per cent of these lending the same amount of money to each child each week.

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk said: “Children are indeed a great expense, excluding the additional money that is ‘lent’ to them on a regular basis. It is always a good idea for parents to encourage their children to pay back the additional money they borrow; especially if the child is over the age of 16. Although it may seem harsh, it is a good life lesson, as freebies won’t be dished out once they leave home!”