Search Results
Briefing
How Much Do Nonbank Transaction Accounts Improve Access to Digital Payments for Unbanked Households?
Nonbank transaction accounts—such as prepaid card accounts or accounts with online payment service providers—can help unbanked households make safe and affordable digital payments. But data suggest that they may not be sufficient to achieve digital payments inclusion. Less than half of unbanked households had these accounts in 2021; the rest either used paper-based transaction products or relied solely on cash.
Report
How are U.S. consumers using general purpose reloadable prepaid cards?: are they being used as substitutes for checking accounts?
Owners of general purpose reloadable prepaid cards (GPR) who do not have checking accounts comprise 4.8 percent of U.S. adults, according to the 2012 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice. This report explores two important aspects of prepaid card use: Do owners of GPR prepaid cards who lack checking accounts use these cards differently than those who have checking accounts? Are these cards substituting for payment services that have traditionally been provided only via traditional checking accounts?
Report
2018 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice
In 2018, U.S. consumers made 72 payments per month on average, not a significant change from 2017.As in 2017, the most frequently used payment instruments were debit cards (34 percent of alltransactions), cash (24 percent), and credit cards (23 percent). Over the 11 years of the survey, debit,cash, and credit have consistently been the most popular ways to pay. For the first time in 2018, debitcards replaced cash as the payment instrument used most frequently for in-person purchases.Some key findings about medium-term trends from 2015 to 2018 include the following:• The share of consumers ...
Report
The 2012 diary of consumer payment choice
This paper describes the results, content, and methodology of the 2012 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (DCPC), the first edition of a survey that measures payment behavior through the daily recording of U.S. consumers? spending by type of payment instrument. A diary makes it possible to collect detailed information on individual payments, including dollar amount, device (if any) used to make the payment (computer, mobile phone, etc.), and payee type (business, person, government). This edition of the DCPC included about 2,500 participants and was conducted in October 2012. During that month, ...
Report
The 2016 and 2017 surveys of consumer payment choice: summary results
Despite the introduction of new technology and new ways to make payments, the Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC) finds that consumer payment behavior has remained stable over the past decade. In the 10 years of the survey, debit cards, cash, and credit cards consistently have been the most popular payment instruments. In 2017, U.S. consumers ages 18 and older made 70 payments per month on average. Debit cards accounted for 31.8 percent of those monthly payments, cash for 27.4 percent, and credit cards for 23.2 percent. The SCPC continues to measure new ways to shop and pay and found ...
Report
The 2015 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice: summary results
The 2015 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC) was implemented using a new longitudinal panel, the Understanding America Study (UAS), and results are not yet comparable to the 2008?2014 SCPC. In 2015, U.S. consumers made 68.9 payments per month. Debit cards remained the most popular payment instrument among U.S. consumers in 2015, accounting for 32.5 percent of their monthly payments, followed by cash (27.1 percent) and credit or charge cards (21.3 percent). For nonbills, consumers used cash and debit equally?about one-third of the time for each. For bills, consumers used payment cards for ...
Journal Article
Prepaid Cards: An Inadequate Solution for Digital Payments Inclusion
Although prepaid cards have the potential to address digital payments exclusion, their use among unbanked households remains low.
Discussion Paper
Improving experience in the prepaid card industry: a customer service workshop
Contact Solutions LLC provides third-party contact center support for a number of government-sponsored prepaid card programs, including U.S. Treasury?s Direct Express. One of the explicit objectives of these programs is to link previously unbanked individuals with access to electronic banking services. With little prior experience as banking consumers, these individuals exhibit usage and behavior patterns, including their consumption of customer service, that differ from those of customers more familiar with financial services. This has presented some new challenges for contact centers. ...
Working Paper
General purpose reloadable prepaid cards : penetration, use, fees and fraud risks
Prepaid cards are the most rapidly growing payment instrument. General purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards, in particular, have gained considerable traction especially among the unbanked and underbanked. How these cards are used is now of acute interest to both policymakers, seeking to ensure broad access to electronic payment methods, consumer protection for prepaid cards, and payments system security, and to payment card industry participants, desiring to advance their product offerings and business models. This study examines the end-user experience of using a GPR card. It investigates ...
Report
The 2016 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice
This paper describes key results from the 2016 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice (DCPC), the third in a series of diary surveys that measure payment behavior through the daily recording of U.S. consumers? spending. In October 2016, consumers paid mostly with cash (31 percent of payments), debit cards (27 percent), and credit cards (18 percent). These instruments accounted for 76 percent of the number of payments, but only 34 percent of the total value of payments, because they tend to be used more for smaller-value payments. Electronic payments accounted for 43 percent of the value of payment ...