FRB Issues Study on Domestic Payments

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System released a report titled The 2013 Federal Reserve Payments Study, which provides new information on the domestic payments landscape.

Specifically, the study investigated the intensity of credit card use by consumers and businesses, information on third-party payments fraud, new estimates of over-the-counter cash withdrawals and deposits at bank branches and wire transfers made by businesses and consumers, and emerging and alternative payments likely to replace traditional payments such as cash and checks.

Findings of the study include:

• credit cards are more prevalent than any other general-purpose card types;
• among general-purpose cards with purchase activity, consumers preferred debit cards;
• while the number of ATM withdrawals far exceeded the number of over-the-counter withdrawals, the average value of over-the-counter withdrawals far exceeded the average value of withdrawals at ATMS at $715 and $118, respectively; and
• businesses, rather than consumers, are the overwhelming users of wire transfers.