Majorities of Americans prefer to make in-person and online purchases with credit or debit cards, but they’re more divided on bill payments
% of Americans who prefer to make each type of payment with …
Note: “Online banking or direct transfers” includes payments using a bank account number, online banking bill payments and account-to-account transfers. “Other” includes money orders, prepaid/gift/EBT cards, payments made with money stored in a mobile payment app, multiple payment methods for a single payment, unreported payment methods and other responses that the Federal Reserve could not categorize. Respondents were asked about credit and debit cards separately. Credit cards include credit and charge cards.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 2025 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
Majorities of Americans prefer to make in-person and online purchases with credit or debit cards, but they’re more divided on bill payments
% of Americans who prefer to make each type of payment with …
| In-person payments | Online payments | Bill payments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | 16 | <1 | 5 |
| Check | 2 | <1 | 5 |
| Credit or debit card | 78 | 92 | 47 |
| Online banking or direct transfers | 1 | 2 | 40 |
| Other | 3 | 5 | 3 |
Note: “Online banking or direct transfers” includes payments using a bank account number, online banking bill payments and account-to-account transfers. “Other” includes money orders, prepaid/gift/EBT cards, payments made with money stored in a mobile payment app, multiple payment methods for a single payment, unreported payment methods and other responses that the Federal Reserve could not categorize. Respondents were asked about credit and debit cards separately. Credit cards include credit and charge cards.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 2025 Survey and Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
