STRATEGIC PARTNERS
December 19, 2001
MAITLAND, Fla. -- In addition to expanded banking services such as balance inquiries and the ability to make deposits at "foreign" ATMs, significant numbers of customers say they would be interested in transactions such as buying postage stamps, obtaining sports and theater tickets and paying bills at ATMs, according to a 2000 survey conducted by Star Systems, a Concord EFS subsidiary.
Asked which among a list of ATM-based services they would consider "extremely appealing," 37 percent of consumers selected the ability to conduct balance inquiries; 31 percent chose the ability to make transfers among accounts and obtain statements on their most recent banking transactions. Twenty-nine percent would like a greater ability to make deposits, and 28 percent said they would like to obtain postage stamps at the ATM. Twenty-three percent were enthusiastic about paying bills at their ATM, and an identical number wanted to buy event tickets.
Several of these services, such as balance inquiries and balance transfers, are already possible at some ATM locations.
The survey did show a slight decline in the number of consumers who found some of these options "extremely appealing," compared to previous Star surveys.
For instance, while 37 percent of the 8,433 ATM/debit cardholders surveyed in the most recent study viewed balance inquiries as "extremely appealing," that number was down from the 43 percent who gave a similar response in 1999. Account transfers were viewed as "extremely appealing" by 31 percent of the respondents to the 2000 survey, down from 39 percent of cardholders who responded similarly in 1999.
Eighty-five percent of cardholders polled during 2000 said they had used their card within the previous 30 days, the same percentage as in 1999. On average, respondents said they used their card 16.5 times a month, and that about half of those transactions were at point-of-sale locations. The number of cardholders using their ATM/debit card for POS transactions increased from 84 percent in 1999 to 87 percent in 2000.
The survey also showed that most cardholders prefer PIN-secured transactions at POS to signature-based payments, primarily because they believe entering a PIN is secure. Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they preferred the PIN-secured transaction compared to 30 percent who opted for the signature-based method -- about the same split as shown by the 1999 survey. Of those who selected the PIN-secured transaction, 54 percent said their reason was "more security." The lead reason for preferring the signature-based transaction was "more convenient," which was selected by 34 percent of poll participants.
The survey also found that those making both PIN-secured and signature-based transactions used their cards more often than those making only signature-based transactions or PIN-secured transaction; 17.9 times per month compared with 10.2 or 8.9 transactions respectively.
For the past decade, Star has conducted an annual consumer survey designed to obtain information about behavior regarding electronic payment services. The current telephone survey was conducted for Star by the Applied Management & Planning Group.
