Doesn't this seem like a bit of a dick move. Oh yeah poor people are poor because they're bad with money. They can't even tell that 3% of 100 is less than £5. Well, sure, but 70% of the bottom quintile are financially literate and are still in the bottom quintile (whilst 10% of the best off are still financially illiterate).

>Some questions proved a leveller for all. Asked to compare the relative cost of borrowing on a credit card and through a bank overdraft with specific charges, barely half got the right answer — virtually regardless of wealth bracket, age, ethnicity, region or gender. We could all do with a financial literacy boost.

Ah yes, these multi-billion dollar businesses have constructed businesses so convoluted that most people don't even know what they're really getting, and instead of doing the responsible thing - legislating against these deliberate anti-consumer practices, let's just blame the people who are being deliberately mislead. If my boss found out that the over 50% of the people who use my products don't actually understand them he certainly wouldn't be publishing a news article about how stupid our customers are.

If you look at the data the truth is clear - financial literacy goes almost nowhere in explaining why people are poor. If you look at the financial times editorial line, we would let them have cake.