The Fed - Recent Developments in Consumer and Business Payment Choices

Figure 1: Number of consumer noncash payments by type, per household, per month, 2015

Type	Payments
Debit cards	45.0
Credit cards	19.3
Checks written	7.1
ACH transfers	7.1

Note: ACH is automated clearinghouse. Debit card includes non-prepaid debit, general-purpose prepaid, and private-label prepaid (including electronic benefits transfers). Credit card includes general purpose and private label.

Figure 2: Changes in the number of consumer noncash payments by type, per household, per month, 2000-15

Type	Change
Debit cards	38.4
Credit cards	6.9
Checks written	-12.2
ACH transfers	5.1

Note: ACH is automated clearinghouse. Debit card includes non-prepaid debit, general-purpose prepaid, and private-label prepaid (including electronic benefits transfers). Credit card includes general purpose and private label.

Figure 3: Number of consumer and business noncash payments, by type, 2015

Billions

Type	Consumer	Business
Non-prepaid debit cards	57.4	2.2
GP Credit cards	26.9	4.1
Checks written	10.7	8.7
ACH debit transfers	10.3	1.2
GP Prepaid debit cards	3.6	0.0^*
PL Prepaid debit cards	6.2
PL Credit cards	2.0	0.8
ACH credit transfers	0.3	9.6

*41.2 million. return to table

Note: PL is private label; GP is general purpose; ACH is automated clearinghouse; PL prepaid card includes electronic benefits transfers. Business PL prepaid debit card transactions are assumed to be zeros for 2015.

Figure 4: Average value of consumer and business noncash payments, by type, 2015

Average value, Dollars

Type	Consumer	Business
Non-prepaid debit cards	36	94
GP Credit cards	72	207
Checks written	497	2,526
ACH debit transfers	1,719	31,118
PL Prepaid debit cards	23
GP Prepaid debit cards	33	82
PL Credit cards	144	87
ACH credit transfers	1,946	9,349

Note: PL is private label; GP is general purpose; ACH is automated clearinghouse; PL prepaid card includes electronic benefits transfers. Business PL prepaid debit card transactions are assumed to be zeros for 2015.

Figure 5: Changes in the number of consumer and business noncash payments, by type, 2012-15

Number, Billions

Type	Consumer	Business
Non-prepaid debit cards	11.7	0.7
GP Credit cards	6.0	0.7
Checks written	-1.8	-1.3
ACH debit transfers	2.1	0.3
PL Prepaid debit cards	0.1
GP Prepaid debit cards	0.5	0.0^*
PL Credit cards	0.4	-0.1
ACH credit transfers	0.1	1.3

* Decline of 26.2 million. return to table

Note: PL is private label; GP is general purpose; ACH is automated clearinghouse; PL prepaid card includes electronic benefits transfers. All GP prepaid debit card payments are assumed to have been made by consumers in 2012. Business PL prepaid debit card payments are assumed to be zeros in both 2012 and 2015.

Figure 6: Number of general-purpose consumer and business cards, with and without purchase activity, by card type, 2012 and 2015

Number, Millions

Card	Year	With Purchase Activity		Without Purchase Activity
Card	Year	Consumer	Business	Consumer	Business
Credit	2012	172.1	15.7	133.2	12.6
Credit	2015	260.9	23.2	191.6	35.8
Non-prepaid debit	2012	173.9	8.6	91.4	8.8
Non-prepaid debit	2015	209.6	11.9	148.3	14.2
Prepaid debit	2012	29.4		129.7
Prepaid debit	2015	59.2		230.8

Figure 7: Number of payments per active general-purpose card, per month, by card type, 2012 and 2015

Card	Year	Consumer	Business
Credit	2012	10.1	18.3
Credit	2015	8.6	14.9
Non-prepaid debit	2012	21.9	14.7
Non-prepaid debit	2015	22.8	15.2
Prepaid debit	2012	8.9
Prepaid debit	2015	5.2

Figure 8: Number of payments using various alternatives to traditional payment methods, 2012 and 2015

Method	2012	2015
Mobile wallet	0.3	1.3
Online bill payment	3.1	3.2
P2P and money transfer	0.2	0.4
Private-label ACH	0.1	0.2
Online payment authentication	1.8	3.4
Walk-in bill payment	0.3	0.2

Note: P2P is person to person; ACH is automated clearinghouse.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Recent Developments in Consumer and Business Payment Choices - June 2017

Recent Developments in Consumer and Business Payment Choices - Accessible