The 2014 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice: Summary Results

136 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2016

See all articles by Claire Greene

Claire Greene

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Scott D. Schuh

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston - Research Department

Joanna Stavins

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Date Written: August, 2016

Abstract

In 2014, the average number of U.S. consumer payments per consumer per month decreased to 66.1, in a statistically insignificant decline from 67.9 in 2013. The number of payments made by paper check continued to decline, falling by 0.7 to 5.0 checks per month, while the number of electronic payments (online banking bill payments, bank account number payments, and deductions from income) increased by 0.6 to 6.9 of these payments per month. The monthly shares of debit cards (31.1 percent), cash (25.6 percent), and credit cards (23.3 percent) continued to be largest; while the share of electronic payments rose a significant 1.2 percentage points to 10.5 percent. Consumers? average cash holdings dropped by about 10 percent to $207 in 2014. The number of cash withdrawals made by consumers per month also declined by about one withdrawal per month to 5.6. There was no significant change in cash use, however. About half of 1 percent of U.S. consumers held bitcoin or other virtual currencies. The 2014 SCPC includes a formal measure of ?underbanked? consumers for the first time.

Keywords: cash, Survey of Consumer Payment Choice, checks, electronic payments, debit cards, prepaid cards, unbanked, checking accounts, credit cards, payment preferences

JEL Classification: D14, E42, D12

Suggested Citation

Greene, Claire and Schuh, Scott and Stavins, Joanna, The 2014 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice: Summary Results (August, 2016). Research Data Reports Paper No. 16-3, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2848809

Claire Greene (Contact Author)

Federal Reserve Banks - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta ( email )

1000 Peachtree Street N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30309-4470
United States

Scott Schuh

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston - Research Department ( email )

600 Atlantic Ave.
Boston, MA 02210
United States
617-973-3941 (Phone)
617-619-7541 (Fax)

Joanna Stavins

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston ( email )

600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
United States
617-973-4217 (Phone)
617-973-4218 (Fax)

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