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Yet more evidence of U.S. consumer reliance on mobile phones emerges as 45% of consumers prefer to pay their bills with a mobile device, up from 29% only last year. That finding from the InvoiceCloud 2026 Annual State of Online Payments Report also signals other big shifts in payment preferences.
Boston-based InvoiceCloud says the shift to mobile is the largest year-over-year increase in the six years of the report. It surveyed 2,000 consumers for this year’s study.
The surge in mobile payments for bill pay may be partly driven by the accessibility mobile devices afford consumers. InvoiceCloud says among lower-income consumers 72% prefer mobile bill payment compared to 67% for middle-income ones and 59% for high-income respondents. Generationally, most—82%—of Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, and 88% of Millennials, born 1981 to 1996, chose mobile.
“Mobile has set the standard for speed and convenience, and people expect the same when paying a bill,” Steve Schult, InvoiceCloud chief product officer, says in a statement. “When something gets in the way, such as a missing reminder or a slow process, it leads to real frustration.”
Consumers this year also have a decided preference for using a debit card account to pay their bills with 44% choosing this bank-based option, up from 35% in 2022. Credit card use, at 27% in 2025, was down from 37% in 2022. And, despite some hoopla around cryptocurrency, InvoiceCloud says this option was chosen by none compared with 1% in the year-ago report. In addition to these payment options, consumers also can pay bills via their bank’s bill-pay service, though only 9% chose that this year, down from 15% in 2024.
Despite some of these digital inroads, a cadre of consumers chooses paper checks and other options. Some 20% of consumers mailed in a check to pay a bill this year, down from 21% in 2024. Thirty-nine percent cite online payment fees as one barrier, followed by limited or hard-to-use card options at 18%, and security concerns, 14%.
Still, InvoiceCloud contends a digital migration for bill payment is well under way with consumers gravitating toward real-time, frictionless experiences that mirror their everyday payment experience, the report says. “Billers looking to increase digital adoption should prioritize payment methods that feel familiar and fast—especially debit and mobile wallet options—while deprioritizing legacy options that add clicks, delays, or confusion.”
