Why not liking change can cost you money

As consumers we often find it hard and difficult to change banks, mobile phone providers or energy suppliers despite being able to get a better deal elsewhere that could save us money.

We all know that changing a service provider requires effort. You need to do your research, compare prices and services and trust that the new provider offers you the same or better service for a better price. That can be daunting, and we tend to become complacent and procrastinate.

Big business are aware of our switching inertia and this can be exploited. Think about the Royal Commission Inquiry into the banking sector in Australia in 2019; I know of many people who wanted to change from the Big 4 to another smaller bank that was not involved in the banking issues.
Others wanted to use the circumstances to get better deals from their existing bank.
A year later hardly anyone did what they said because it is just 'too hard'!

There is also another factor that stops us from making the switch more often, it is called availability heuristics.

Heuristics are a mental rule of thumb strategy that allows us to make quick and effective judgements and decisions.

Availability heuristics explains why we revert back into old behaviours. When we make decisions, we tend to fall back to the information that we have and that is easy to be accessed. We use the path of least resistance. It is our reliance on easily accessible information that gets in our way of making better and more informed decisions.

Change is difficult and getting better deals is never easy.
Don't fall back into the trap of the available information, look for new information.
Take time and take advantage of what is already available such as comparison websites for insurances, home loans or utility services; this helps overcome our complacency for change and can get you better deals and better services.