A survey of people who had failed to secure a mortgage last year suggests that many are failing to do the basic research needed to get proper control of their finances:

• 13% did not know how much money they have left over at the end of the month;
• 18% did not know what monthly repayments they could afford;
• 14% did not have a big enough deposit for the property they wanted;
•  12% were unable to secure the size of mortgage they needed.