Capital One finds that grandparents could be getting a raw deal when it comes to Christmas gifts
 

Britain's grandparents could be short-changed when it comes to Christmas, research by Capital One has shown.
 

While festive gift-givers will spend an average of £72 on their wives and girlfriends (husbands and boyfriends will receive less - £61 on average) and £68 on their children, granny will be left with gifts worth just £20 (grandfathers receive £22), according to the credit card company.*
 

The Capital One research also found that the nation as a whole will spend £11.64 billion on gifts alone this Christmas - equivalent to £485 for the average household. However, the average grandmother or grandfather can expect to receive just 4% of this festive spending - compared to the 15% of household spending that a wife or girlfriend can expect to receive.
 

Relation	Average spend
Wives and girlfriends	£72.33
Children	£67.80
Husbands and boyfriends	£61.30
Grandfathers	£21.67
Grandmothers	£19.94

Srini Gopalan, UK Senior Vice President of Capital One, says: "It is possible to get far more for your money by changing your spending habits - using a reward card like the Capital One Cashback with World MasterCard, which offers 4% cashback on all spending in the first three months, could earn the nation £465 million in cash back on their Christmas presents. That's £20 per UK household, based on the average spend of £485, which could be used to double the average value of a grandparent's gift."
 

There is, however, further bad news for the nation's grandparents: the gifts they are likely to receive. One fifth (20%) of the nation's grandparents can expect to receive a photograph, soaps and bath foams or cheap perfumes. Other gifts that grandchildren plan to give include socks, magazine subscriptions and smelling salts.
 

	Gift	%age giving gift to a grandparent
1.	Framed photos of grandchildren	12%
2.	Soaps and bath foams	8%
3.	Perfumes	8%
4.	Gardening equipment	4%
5.	Magazine subscription	2%
6.	Socks	1%
7.	Jigsaw	1%
8.	Knitting needles/wool	1%
9.	Smelling salts	1%
10.	Crochet kit	1%

The Capital One Cashback with World MasterCard® card offers 4% cashback on all purchases for the first three months and 1% on all purchases thereafter - with no tiered spending requirements and no limits on the amount of cashback customers can earn.
 

The card also offers free travel insurance including accident, personal effects, cancellation and missed departure insurance, plus a competitive 15.9% APR typical variable. It also comes with Capital One's free ID theft service which gives customers a named advisor to assist in the event of their suffering ID theft.
 

- ends -
 

* Research conducted by ICM of a representative sample of 1,951 UK adults between 9-11th November 2007.
 

Notes to Editors
For further information about this release please contact:
Becky Paterson at Capital One on 0115 843 6484
Or Russell Saunders at Fishburn Hedges on 020 7893 4321

About the Capital One Cashback with World MasterCard®

Cashback will be payable annually in the month of January and will be credited to your account unless we notify you of another method. No Cashback will be paid to you if at that time you are in default under the terms of this agreement. However the amount of that year's Cashback will accrue and may be payable in a following year. No Cashback will be payable if this agreement is terminated or this account is closed. For a Platinum Cashback card all applicants must be aged 21 or over, resident in the UK and receiving an income of more than £10,000 per annum. Credit is available subject to status and conditions.
 

About Capital One:

Capital One Financial Corporation trades on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1996 Capital One launched its first overseas operation in the UK offering credit cards, savings and loan products to UK customers. The UK Operations Centre for Capital One Bank (Europe) plc is located in Nottingham, where more than 2,000 Associates are based. Capital One is a top-ten credit card issuer in both the USA and the UK, with more than four million UK customers. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively have approximately 50 million managed accounts and $144 billion in managed loans. The Bank has won numerous industry awards for its products and services as well as accolades for its consistent work within the communities in which it operates.
 

Capital One has consistently provided market-leading consumer-lending products to its customers. In the UK Capital One was among the first credit card issuers to offer a 0% introductory purchase rate, combining this with one of the lowest 'go-to' rates on the market.
 

Capital One is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.