News

For P2P payments, consumers say they prefer mobile apps to cash

August 17, 2017

Consumers across generational lines prefer to use mobile applications as opposed to cash when paying other people, according to the recent U.S. Bank Cash Behavior Survey. Additionally, the survey found that 47 percent of consumers surveyed  prefer the use of digital apps to make payments versus cash (45 percent).

Breaking the results down by generations, 49 percent of millennials (aged 19-36), 44 percent of Gen X (aged 37-52) and 32 percent of baby boomers (aged 53-71) have made digital payments.

"The incredible consumer response to digital and mobile banking solutions is changing the entire industry and diminishing the historic use of cash," Gareth Gaston, executive vice president of omnichannel at U.S. Bank, said in a press release. "ATM withdrawals and branch visits are slowly declining, while mobile transactions are increasing dramatically year over year. ... [T]he broad availability of free, easy-to-use and fast-acting technology is supplanting the need for cash."

The U.S. Bank survey also found that consumers aren't carrying much cash with them or using it for payments on a frequent basis. Overall, 50 percent of survey respondents reported carrying cash less than half of the time.

When they do carry cash, nearly half of consumers surveyed keep less than $20 on hand, and 76 percent keep less than $50. The instances where they spend this cash appear to be shrinking as well, with 46 percent claiming they use cash fewer than eight days each month, and 5 percent saying they never use it.

Bovitz Inc., an independent market research company, conducted the the nationally representative online survey on behalf of U.S. Bank between June 1 and June 7. Bovitz surveyed 2,003 U.S. adults ages 19-71 with a current banking relationship, and who own a smartphone. Additionally, 25 percent of survey respondents must have used a P2P payment app in the past six months.