Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Caution among consumers when it comes to spending has led more than half of them to favor debit cards for purchases by a wide margin over credit cards, while a significant percentage want control over when their bills are paid, according to the latest ACI Speedpay Pulse Report from the processor ACI Worldwide Inc., released Friday.
This caution comes as four in 10 among Gen X consumers don’t have enough funds in a bank account to pay a $1,000 emergency expense. “Financial pressure, not just technology, is the primary force reshaping how, when, and where consumers pay their bills,” says ACI in comments accompanying the ninth edition of the annual report, research for which included surveys of some 3,000 consumers.
Generally speaking, consumers are “gravitating toward payment experiences that offer greater certainty, control, and intelligent support, favoring debit over credit payments, proactive bill notifications, and automated recurring payments,” says Elkhorn, Neb.-based ACI.
In fact, this consumer caution appears most vividly with respect to the choice of payment method, ACI says. Some 52.7% used debit cards last year, exceeding the tally for credit cards by 11.4 percentage points. This spread emerges “as consumers increasingly favor a payment method that won’t let them spend money they don’t have,” ACI comments. The spread is particularly acute among GenZ consumers, 74.7% of whom favor debit.
Caution shows up as well with bill payments, where more than 60% indicated having control over when bills are paid is very or extremely important. These consumers are looking for “clear and predictable due dates,” cited by half of respondents, “real-time reminders,” cited by 44%.
Meanwhile, the increasing importance of debit is coming at the same time automated recurring payments are being adopted, according to the report. Some 55.4% of consumers combine one-time and automatic recurring payments, compared to the 43.4% who did so in 2019’s survey.
One payment method that has soared in popularity since that survey seven years ago is mobile wallets, now used by 40% of consumers surveyed, up from 17% in 2019. Among GenZ consumers, nearly 53% use mobile apps from billers and 22.4% have adopted mobile wallets, said to be the highest wallet adoption rate of any generation surveyed.
“Consumers want control over when and how they pay, because for many households missing a payment has become a real financial risk,” comments Ron Schulz, general manager for ACI Speedpay, in a statement. Speedpay is ACI’s bill-payment and -presentment platform.
