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The Federal Reserve Payments Study 2016 - Accessible Version

Figure 1. Distribution of core noncash payments by type, number, and value, 2015
  Number (billions) Value ($ trillions)
Credit cards 33.8 3.16
Debit cards 69.5 2.56
Checks 17.3 26.83
ACH credit transfers 9.9 90.54
ACH debit transfers 13.6 54.76

Note: Debit card includes non-prepaid debit, general-purpose prepaid, private-label prepaid, and electronic benefit transfers. Credit card includes general purpose and private label. Check, automated clearinghouse (ACH) credit transfers, and ACH debit transfers include interbank and on-us.

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Figure 2: Trends in noncash payments 2000-15, by number

Number of payments (billions)
  2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015
Checks 42.6 38.6 32.2 25.8 19.7 17.3
ACH 6.0 8.8 14.6 19.1 20.4 23.5
Credit cards 15.6 19.0 21.7 21.6 26.8 33.8
Non-prepaid debit cards 8.3 15.6 25.0 37.9 47.3 59.6
Prepaid debit cards 0.5 0.8 3.3 6.0 9.3 9.9

Note: Prepaid debit card includes general purpose, private label, and electronic benefit transfer.

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Figure 3: Number of remote and in-person general-purpose card payments by card type, 2012 and 2015

Number of payments (billions)
  2012 2015
In-person Remote In-person Remote
Credit 18.5 5.9 22.2 8.8
Non-prepaid debit 41.7 5.6 50.9 8.7
Prepaid debit 2.7 0.4 3.0 0.7

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Figure 4: Distribution by value of fraudulent remote and in-person general-purpose card payments, 2015
In-person Remote
Percent 53.85 46.15

Note: Includes fraudulent payments by general-purpose credit and debit cards. In-person fraud includes ATM fraud.

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Figure 5: Trends in checks written 2000-15, by number

Number of checks written (billions)
  2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015
Converted to ACH 0.0 0.3 2.6 3.3 2.7 2.1
On-us 12.0 9.0 6.6 6.3 5.6 4.5
Interbank 30.6 29.6 25.6 19.5 14.1 12.7

Figure 5: Trends in checks written 2000-15, by value

Value of checks written ($ trillions)
  2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015
Converted to ACH 0.00 0.06 0.70 0.75 0.62 0.50
On-us 16.43 13.03 11.91 11.18 9.77 8.81
Interbank 23.87 27.83 29.56 22.89 17.44 18.02

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Last update: February 28, 2017

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