A Default Savings Account

This text corresponds to the 'Balancing the Books' newsletter where we talk candidly about money, addressing small present habits that will help strengthen, financially speaking, our 'future selves'.

The digitalisation process that banks have accelerated over the last decade can become one of the great allies of so-called "default savings". The concept is simple; finding a way to generate small cushions through everyday habits, such as card payments or rounding up purchases.

In other words, and although it may sound contradictory, saving while spending. Especially at a time when consumption remains strong with average household spending on the rise thanks to various factors. Among them, the advancement of employee remuneration with the resilience of the labour market, the revaluation of pensions, or the better evolution of real estate incomes or market investments.

Digital piggy banks were particularly important a few years ago in the banking sector, at a time when the capacity of so-called "micro-saving" was seen as a significant business, not so much to gain managed volume, but to add more linked customers, who are the most profitable for the sector and, therefore, the hardest to acquire.

BBVA, for example, once bet on the 'rounding' rule, which allowed its customers to allocate "the change" from purchases (the amounts to complete the next euro) to a savings account, a pension plan, or an investment fund. The formula was simple: if you pay 25.70 euros for a sweatshirt, the 30 cents to complete 26 euros were transferred to that account.

Currently, the entity also rewards customers with 6% who decide to "set aside" an amount from their salary each month (for three months) up to a maximum of 20 euros per month. For example, if you deposit 1,500 euros of salary into the account and decide to save 250 euros per month, at the beginning of the next month you will receive an additional 15 euros (less tax withholding).

In the case of digital piggy banks, the operation is similar, depending entirely on the number of purchases made (the more purchases, the more money saved) and the rounding applied. Each entity has its own rules. For example, in December 2024, Unicaja launched its digital piggy bank so that the customer can choose from several options. It ranges from making periodic contributions by allocating a percentage of the salary, to rounding up purchases made with a card or, a more original operation, allowing a value to be set for the goals of the selected First or Second Division football team. Every time they score, that predetermined money goes directly to the piggy bank.

Other entities have also found the formula to turn daily consumption into savings through tools like Pensumo. It is an app where, for every purchase made by the user in one of the affiliated stores, a percentage of it is automatically allocated to a pension plan; in this case, managed by Ibercaja Pensión.

It was in October 2024 when the entity officially launched this application. And by the end of March, it already had more than 30,000 downloads and 145 affiliated retailers. Among them, Amazon, Decathlon, or Primor. Its model is based on collaboration between consumers and retailers, who contribute a percentage of the purchase as an incentive to retain customers. In other words, the buyer receives a reward in the form of future savings. And the seller, captures and links them.

Although these strategies do not allow for large volumes of savings - one would have to buy a lot to achieve it and, in the end, it's a case of "what goes around comes around" - they can help generate a cushion for small indulgences. However, their main advantage is that savings occur without additional effort. As Pensumo experts explain, it is not necessary to allocate part of the salary or make complex planning, as savings happen automatically with each purchase.