U.S. Consumers and Debit: Fewer Use It for Purchases

The latest Insight Summary Report from Mercator Advisory Group’s CustomerMonitor Survey Series reveals that 54% of all respondents use debit cards for purchases and that figure has declined steadily since 2011, the year following the enactment of the Durbin Amendment. The report, U.S. Consumers and Debit: Fewer Use It for Purchases, presents the findings of an online survey of 3,002 U.S. adults conducted in June 2018.

While consumer ownership of debit cards remains strong and people who have recently opened a checking account are even more likely than average to own a debit card for transactions, the percentage of all U.S. consumers and even those that own debit cards who report using their debit card for transactions is declining.

Today, more U.S. consumers, especially seniors are more likely to use credit cards than any other payments in stores. Young adults and adults whose annual household income is less than $75,000, however, are still more likely to use debit cards than credit cards in stores.

Only half of debit card users report using their card for online purchases. The perception of greater online security with credit cards (41%), fear of checking account compromise (30%), and lack of rewards when using debit cards (30%) are the main reasons consumers do not use debit cards online.

As U.S. consumers make a greater share of purchases online and by mobile using a wider range of payment options, they often prefer credit cards to debit cards online. And with the rising use of online payment services, consumers may start to bypass traditional payment cards and keep funds in their payment service rather than transfer it back to their checking account.

“The rise in use of online and mobile commerce is heightening the need for enhanced security measures such as mobile card controls, especially for debit cards,” states the author of the report, Karen Augustine, senior manager of Primary Data Services at Mercator Advisory Group, which includes the CustomerMonitor Survey Series.

The report is 78 pages long and contains 40 exhibits.

Companies mentioned in the report include: Amazon, American Express, Apple, BillMeLater, Bitcoin, Discover, Google, Facebook, Mastercard, MoneyGram, PayPal, PeoplePay, Popmoney, Zelle, Square, Venmo, Visa, Walmart, and Western Union.