Consumers Check Out Variety of Payment Options

PLEASANTON, Calif.  — Cash, checks and credit and debit cards are clearly still the most used forms of payment in the United States, but digital and mobile payments are starting to make an inroads, according to a survey released by Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc.

According to “How America Pays in 2015: Traditional, Digital and Mobile Convergence in Payments,” a survey of more than 1,000 Americans in April, consumers used a wide variety of payments at least once during the past year. Specifically, the research revealed that:

• 93 percent used cash
• 68 percent used debit cards
• 68 percent used checks
• 67 percent used credit cards
• 62 percent used PayPal
• 48 percent used retailer gift cards
• 45 percent used Visa or MasterCard gift cards
• 33 percent used prepaid debit cards
• 14 percent made mobile payments on smartphones or tablets

The survey also discovered that 68 percent of mobile payment users say they are using alternative payment methods more compared to the prior year. Cash and check usage saw the greatest overall declines in use.

It also found that one-quarter of smartphone users are using mobile wallets. Within those mobile wallets, 64 percent of consumers house debit cards there, 58 percent keep credit cards and 45 percent house gift cards.

In regards to gift cards, the research revealed that they are quite popular, with 87 percent of respondents saying merchant-specific gift cards are convenient to use. Nearly half (48 percent of respondents) said they have used gift cards in the past year.

Pleasanton-based Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. is a global prepaid and payments global company.