More than half of consumers plan to use cash to pay for this year's holiday purchases, according to two surveys released this week.
In a telephone survey of 1,005 adults conducted by Opinion Research Corp. this month on behalf of USAA Federal Savings Bank, 85% of respondents said they plan to use cash to make holiday purchases this year, and 62% planned to use cash more often.
Fifty-five percent of respondents said they do not plan to use credit or charge cards for holiday purchases this year. About 74% of those who planned to pay for holiday purchases with a credit card intended to pay off the balance immediately, while 20% said they will pay off the balance in a few months.
Those results were backed up by a separate online survey of 3,800 adults conducted this month by the nonprofit group National Foundation for Credit Counseling, which found that 68% of consumers planned to use cash for holiday purchases. Twelve percent of respondents said they plan to pay off holiday-related credit card balances immediately.
