Tuesday, December 11, 2007
According to a just-released report – 2007 Federal Reserve Payments Study – more than two-thirds of all noncash payments in the United States last year were made electronically. The Fed's much-awaited payments study found that in 2006 Americans made 19 billion more electronic payments than they did in 2003, when the Fed last surveyed Americans' payments habits.
Of approximately 93 billion noncash payments last year, about 63 billion were electronic, just 33 billion were checks, and about 3 billion of those were converted to electronic payments and cleared through the automated clearing house system.
The Fed's report also shows debit card use now outpaces credit card use, although total dollars spent using credit cards outstrips debit card spending by two to one. There were 25.3 billion debit card payments last year with a combined value of $1.0 trillion, according to the report, and 21.7 billion credit card payments totaling $2.1 trillion.
A summary of the report can be downloaded at www.frbservices.org/Retail/pdf/2007_payments_study.pdf .
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