Payment Choice Research Articles

Payment Card Rewards Programs and Consumer Payment Choice

By using a unique data set that contains detailed information on consumer perceived attributes of payment methods and consumer perceived acceptance of payment methods by merchants, we estimate the direct effects of rewards card programs on consumer payment choice for in-store transactions. Our estimation approach, which follows Harris and Keane (1999), allows us to alleviate the endogeneity problem of rewards. To shed light on the public policy debate about whether to allow interchange fees to cover the costs of rewards, we conduct counterfactual experiments to examine the effects of removing rewards from credit and/or debit cards, and find that: (i) a small percentage of consumers would switch from electronic to paper-based payment methods, (ii) the effect of removing credit card rewards is greater than that of removing debit card rewards, and consequently, (iii) removing rewards from both credit and debit cards would reduce credit card transactions, but increase debit card transactions, and (iv) removing rewards could reduce consumer credit card debt. We also discuss implications on how removing rewards may influence card issuer profitability and consumer welfare.

How people pay: Evidence from grocery store data

Empirical evidence based on grocery store transaction data shows that consumer payment behavior at the point of sale is important for understanding models of money demand. There are statistically significant effects of transaction costs, opportunity costs, and product characteristics on the choice of payment instrument, which then, in turn, affect money demand. These results emphasize the overlap between the work of empirical researchers in payment choice and theoretical modelers of monetary economics and should inform both literatures.

Consumers' Use of Debit Cards: Patterns, Preferences, and Price Response

Debit card use at the point of sale has grown dramatically in recent years in the United States and now exceeds the number of credit card transactions. However, many questions remain regarding patterns of debit card use, consumer preferences when using debit, and how consumers might respond to explicit pricing of card transactions. Using a new nationally representative consumer survey, this paper describes the current use of debit cards by U.S. consumers, including how demographics affect use. In addition, consumers' stated reasons for using debit cards are used to analyze how consumers substitute between debit and other payment instruments. We also examine the relationship between household financial conditions and payment choice. Finally, we use a key variable on bank-imposed transaction fees to analyze price sensitivity of card use, and find a 12% decline in overall use in reaction to a mean 1.8% fee charged on certain debit card transactions; we believe this represents the first microeconomic evidence in the United States on price sensitivity for a card payment at the point of sale.

Consumers' Use of Debit Cards: Patterns, Preferences, and Price Response

Debit card use at the point of sale has grown dramatically in recent years in the United States and now exceeds the number of credit card transactions. However, many questions remain regarding patterns of debit card use, consumer preferences when using debit, and how consumers might respond to explicit pricing of card transactions. Using a new nationally representative consumer survey, this paper describes the current use of debit cards by U.S. consumers, including how demographics affect use. In addition, consumers' stated reasons for using debit cards are used to analyze how consumers substitute between debit and other payment instruments. We also examine the relationship between household financial conditions and payment choice. Finally, we use a key variable on bank‐imposed transaction fees to analyze price sensitivity of card use, and find a 12% decline in overall use in reaction to a mean 1.8% fee charged on certain debit card transactions; we believe this represents the first microeconomic evidence in the United States on price sensitivity for a card payment at the point of sale.

Summary of the Workshop on Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice

This paper summarizes and outlines some interesting issues that arose during a recent workshop on Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Emerging Payments Research Group (EPRG) on July 25, 2008. Topics addressed are the consumer adoption of new payment technologies, credit card debt management, payment card surcharges, and involuntary bank account closures.

Consumer payment choices: paper, plastic, or electrons?

Using data from the Surveys of Consumers, this paper examines the portfolio of payment choices that different groups of consumers use and identifies the socio-economic, demographic, and attitudinal characteristics of groups of consumers that fall within those choice sets. We find that younger, married, more highly educated, higher income, higher asset households were more likely to adopt a broad range of electronic payment choices. We also find that consumers' attitudes and perceptions of e-banking, in terms of security and privacy, convenience, and familiarity and ease of use, were significant correlates of payment choices.

The Choice at the Checkout: Quantifying Demand Across Payment Instruments

Dramatic changes have occurred in the U.S. payment system over the past two decades, most notably an explosion in electronic card-based payments. Not surprisingly, this shift has been accompanied by a series of policy debates, all of which hinge critically on understanding consumer behavior at the point of sale. Using a new nationally representative survey, we transform consumers' responses to open-ended questions on reasons for using debit cards to estimate a characteristics-based discrete-choice demand model that includes debit cards, cash, checks, and credit cards. Market shares computed using this model line up well with aggregate shares from other sources. The estimates are used to conduct several counterfactual experiments that predict consumer responses to alternative payment choices. We find that consumers respond strongly to elapsed time at the checkout counter and to whether the payment instrument draws from debt or liquidity. In addition, substitution patterns vary substantially with demographics. New contactless payment methods designed to replace debit cards are predicted to draw market share from cash, checks, and credit, in that order. Finally, although we find an effect of cohort on payment technology adoption, this effect is unlikely to diminish substantially over a 10-year horizon.

A stated-preference approach towards assessing a vehicle inspection and maintenance program

A stated-preference approach is used to analyzing responses towards the implementation of a vehicle inspection and maintenance program in Lebanon. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to 160 owners of private autos using a scenario-based approach to look at the choice between centralized and decentralized inspection stations as well as between car repair and payment of an emission fee. Binary-logit models are used to define inspection set-up and repair/fee payment choices. The centralized system with car repair were found to be the more popular options.

The Demand for Currency Versus Debitable Accounts: A Reconsideration

Payment choice models based on transaction sizes (TS models) induce strong predictions about the use of payment instruments. Especially, all equal-sized transactions should be paid with the same payment instrument. Then, for each individual, one should observe strict domains of transaction for every payment instruments. Using micro-level payment data from a representative sample of the French population, we show that TS models are bad at replicating individual and aggregate payment patterns. First, we show that the predictions of TS models are not empirically validated on an individual level. Second, we develop and test three models to explain the observed aggregate payment patterns. The first two models are aggregate versions of TS models and the third one is an alternative model based on a payment decision rule depending on cash holding (CH model). We find that the third model gives predictions between 2 and 6 times more precise than the first two models with notably less demanding information on individuals.

The Boston Fed Study of Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice: A Survey of Federal Reserve System Employees

The way people pay for goods and services is changing dramatically, but little data and research on consumer behavior and payment choice are publicly available. This paper describes the results of a survey of payment behavior and attitudes taken by Federal Reserve employees in 2004. Major contributions of the survey are that it asks: 1) why payment choices are made; 2) why individual payment behavior has changed; and 3) why individual-specific payment characteristics matter for payment choice. Although the survey is not statistically representative of U.S. consumers, and thus may not provide accurate estimates of aggregate U.S. payment trends, many results are consistent with data from more representative payment surveys. For example, the data show a trend away from check- writing and toward electronic and emerging payment methods, but the choice of payment method depends on the type of payment, amount of payment, and other complex factors. Also, cost, convenience, and control over timing are the most important characteristics determining respondents' adoption and use of payment methods. We find that payment characteristics vary widely across respondents, partly because of inherent heterogeneity but perhaps also because of measurement error, misperception, or inadequate information (lack of consumer education). Cross-sectional evidence shows that respondents tend to use payment methods in a manner broadly consistent with their reported assessments of the payment characteristics.

Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice: 2006 Conference Summary

This paper summarizes the proceedings of the second Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice conference, held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on July 25-27, 2006. These conferences are unique in featuring the collaboration of two groups of payments experts - the private-sector payments industry on the one hand, and the academic, research, and policymaking communities on the other - to stimulate more research and understanding of consumer payment behavior. The central focus of this second conference was learning more about the numerous consumer payments data sources that are available - but which are not well known or easily accessed, often for proprietary reasons - and discovering what further information is needed. Panel sessions on payment card loyalty programs and the transition from cash to electronic payments were informative and stimulated much debate. Research paper presentations provided additional support for the collection and analysis of innovative new data sources to enhance our understanding of the decisions consumers make when choosing payment methods.

Rolling out employee share options at Enterprise Inns

Offering share “match” incentives and flexible payment choices enabled Enterprise Inns to gain employee buy‐in for its Share Incentive Plan, explains Julia Memery, relationship manager at Halifax Employee Share Services.

Consumers' Use of Debit Cards: Patterns, Preferences, and Price Response

Debit card use at the point of sale has grown dramatically in recent years in the U.S., and now exceeds the number of credit card transactions. However, many questions remain regarding patterns of debit card use, consumer preferences when using debit, and how consumers might respond to explicit pricing of card transactions. Using a new nationally representative consumer survey, this paper describes the current use of debit cards by U.S. consumers, including how demographics affect use. In addition, consumers' stated reasons for using debit cards are used to analyze how consumers substitute between debit and other payment instruments. We also examine the relationship between household financial conditions and payment choice. Finally, we use a key variable on bank-imposed transaction fees to analyze price sensitivity of card use, and find a 12 percent decline in overall use in reaction to a mean 1.8 percent fee charged on certain debit card transactions; we believe this represents the first microeconomic evidence in the United States on price sensitivity for a card payment at the point of sale.

The Choice at the Checkout: Competition Among Payment Instruments

Dramatic changes have occurred in the U.S. payment system over the past two decades, most notably an explosion in electronic card-based payments. Not surprisingly, this shift has been accompanied by a series of policy debates, all of which hinge critically on understanding consumer behavior at the point of sale. Using a new nationally representative survey, we transform consumers' responses to open-ended questions on reasons for using debit cards to estimate a characteristics-based discrete-choice demand model that includes debit cards, cash, checks, and credit cards. Market shares computed using this model line up well with aggregate shares from other sources. The estimates are used to conduct several counterfactual experiments that predict consumer responses to alternative payment choices. We find that consumers respond strongly to elapsed time at the checkout counter and to whether the payment instrument draws from debt or liquidity. In addition, substitution patterns vary substantially with demographics. New "contactless" payment methods designed to replace debit cards are predicted to draw market share from cash, checks, and credit, in that order. Finally, although we find an effect of cohort on payment technology adoption, this effect is unlikely to diminish substantially over a 10-year horizon.

Academic Major, Gender, Personal Values, And Reactions To An Ethical Dilemma

Recent corporate scandals have increased public interest in the area of business ethics. This study examines the relationship of gender and choice of academic major to personal values and to ethical choices, and the relationship of personal values to ethical choices. Two hundred fifty three subjects read a case that presented a tax evasion dilemma. The subjects responded to a series of action statements related to the ethical dilemma and completed a personal values survey. The responses to the action statements were used to calculate a tax compliance score. Participants were also asked to make a choice as to whether the taxpayer should or should not report all of the taxable income. The results indicate that both the tax compliance score and the tax payment choice differed by gender and academic major. Furthermore, gender differences were found on five of the ten personal value constructs and academic major differences were found on four of the ten personal value constructs. With regard to the relationship of personal values to ethical choices, it was found that three of the personal value constructs were correlated with the compliance score and the tax payment decision.

Cash, Check or Bank Card? The Effects of Transaction Characteristics on the Use of Payment Instruments

Exploiting a unique and original dataset of 11,945 payments made from March to May 2005, the paper estimates the determinants of the probability of a transaction being paid by cash, check or bank card at the point of sale. Controlling for individual characteristics, the main results of the paper are: 1) a differentiated effect of the transaction size regarding payment instruments; 2) a specialization effect between payment instruments according to the type of good and spending place; 3) a double supply-side effect due to a restriction of the payment choice and to the organization of the payment process. For the first time ever, detailed data on consumption and payment patterns make it possible to assess the role of transaction characteristics in the use of payment instruments.

Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice: a Conference Summary

Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice: a Conference Summary

The Move Toward a Cashless Society: Calculating the Costs and Benefits

While the "cashless society" has not yet fully become a reality, payment choices by consumers and merchants have been moving the U.S. economy in that direction slowly and steadily over the past five decades. In this study, a companion paper to Garcia-Swartz (2006a) in this volume, we lay out the detailed cost and benefit calculations behind our analysis of the steady changes in transaction payment methods.

Supply- and Demand-Side Developments Influencing Growth in the Debit Market

On August 3, 2006, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop led by Ronald Congemi, senior vice president of strategic industry relations for First Data Corporation, to examine developments on both the supply side and demand side that are influencing growth in the debit card market. On the supply side, Congemi addressed banks' increasing recognition of the importance of payments-related revenues in their institutional profit and loss statements, the effect of differences in interchange fees between PIN and signature debit, and the greater focus on cost structures for debit card issuers. On the demand side, he considered how changes in consumer payment preferences and innovations in the debit market were influencing consumer behavior and payment choice and, ultimately, competition among payment alternatives.

Enhancing staff payment systems at Hughes Supply: Providing employees with a range of tailored, modern payment options

When some Hughes Supply employees failed to receive their paychecks, the organization took the opportunity to develop a range of payment choices to suit the needs of its diverse workforce. Here, the Hughes Supply HR team explain how ePayroll was successfully introduced.