Poll results: debit card use

A couple months ago I asked readers of this site how frequently they used debit cards, if at all.

Here are the poll results:

You’ll notice that a full 27 percent of respondents said they never used debit cards at all.

Additionally, about another 16 percent said they used it rarely or just once a month (probably because some stores do not accept credit cards).

In all, that’s 43 percent of respondents that said they rarely if ever use debit cards.

Let’s compare that to the average American to get some perspective.

How the average American uses credit cards

There are not that many studies about debit card use. But I was able to come across a paper from the Fed in 2006 that indicated people use debit cards quite frequently.

The data show that the median U.S. debit-using household performs three debit transactions per week, with a slightly skewed distribution (figure 1). Twenty-two percent of households reported seven or more debit transactions per week. Thus, although only about half of households use debit cards, many of those who do use the cards use them intensively

Conclusion

I had suspected that readers of the site would prefer credit cards, like I do, for their consumer protection and rewards.

Also, I wondered if there might be some backlash against debit cards, as the poll appeared around the time Bank of America was implementing, and then quickly dropped, a $5 monthly fee to use debit cards.

But the poll results showed that readers used debit cards almost exactly like the rest of the nation. That is, about half the readers and half of Americans use debit cards, and a good portion use debit cards almost every day.

It seems like debit cards are still a popular choice, likely because they are necessary for certain transactions (money orders at the Post Office) and there is no risk of running up a mountain of credit card debt.

Thanks to everyone that answered the poll question.

(full title of the paper: “Consumers Use of Debit Cards: Patterns, Preferences, and Price Response” by Ron Borzekowski, Elizabeth K. Kiser, and Shaista Ahme)