“I look at my different banking apps every day. Fortuneo, then Boursorama, then Trade Republic… I alternate, and sometimes I start again, even for no reason. It’s like a reflex.”. If you are like Amandine, this 27-year-old web editor, you are not an isolated case. According to the FBF-Ifop study, 79% of French people have downloaded at least one app from their bank, and almost one in two consult it every daymost often to track their accounts and expenses. In the vast majority of cases, nothing to worry about. But when this check is repeated endlessly, it can be a red flag…
“Sometimes I open my account, nothing has changed, and I wonder why I did that”testifies a 24-year-old student. It is precisely this type of behavior that should raise alarms, according to Boris Charpentier, psychologist and coach. “It is not the frequency alone that counts, but the psychological function of behavior »he explains. If there is no transfer expected, no direct debit imminent, no expenses to verify, and the banking app was opened without thinking, there are questions to ask.
When it becomes a sign of anxiety
For the psychologist, several signals distinguish normal management from anxious control. “This behavior becomes a subject of clinical attention when the person feels tension if they cannot check, or they consults your account to reassure yourself rather than to make a concrete decision »explains Boris Charpentier. Checking the same information several times, even though no data has changed, is also a clue to take into account.
Another signal is the time spent imagine disaster scenarios linked to money, and the moment when these checks disrupt daily life. “In these situations, the gesture looks more like a anxious control behavior than simple financial management »he summarizes. It is therefore not the number of times you consult your banking app that counts, but rather the effect on your peace of mind. “In these situations, this gesture seems more like a anxious control behavior than simple financial management ». We then fall into a mechanism known in behavioral psychology: compulsive checking. We find the same spring in hypochondria, when “a person consults their symptoms over and over on the internet”or in certain obsessive disorders, when he or she “checks a closed door several times”.
Apps have changed our relationship with money
The psychologist observes that banking applications have profoundly changed our relationship with money. “Before, the account was almost invisible between two statements. Today we have access to it 24 hours a day.”. However, in behavioral psychology, we know that the more information is available, the more we are tried to monitor her continuously.
Moreover, this was well understood by social networks. “Apps exploit the same attentional mechanisms : notifications, real-time updates, immediate feedback »continues our expert. In anxious people, this permanent accessibility can promote a form financial hypervigilance. “They monitor their accounts like others monitor their bodily symptoms or their professional messages”he notes.
Except that if in the short term, verification relieves… “In the long term, she maintains the problem »assures Boris Charpentier. Each consultation of the account sends an implicit message to the brain: if it is necessary to check, it means that a danger exists. He then learns that only verification brings a feeling of security, and asks for it more and more often. When this reflex weighs on daily life, talking to a professional helps to stop the loop.
