Discussion Paper

Trends and preferences in consumer payments

Abstract: For two decades, Visa Inc. has contracted with a market research firm to gather detailed information from U.S. consumers about the forms of payment they use when carrying out transactions at many types of merchants. This omnibus project, the Visa Payment Panel Study, has recorded the migration away from paper forms of payment to electronic and plastic payment methods, identified variation in preferred payment methods based on consumer demographics, and calculated a share of use for each payment type at the merchant category level. The Payment Cards Center invited Michael Marx, senior business leader, Visa Inc. Research Services, to conduct a workshop on findings from the Visa Payment Panel Study. This paper summarizes the information presented at that workshop, including indications from panel data about changes in payment behavior during the recent recession.

Keywords: Credit cards; Debit cards; Consumers' preferences;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Part of Series: Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers

Publication Date: 2010

Number: 10-02