WASHINGTON—More consumers are becoming comfortable with paying their bills on the fly and using their smartphone to make a retail purchase, a new CUNA study reveals.
The report shows that more than half of smartphone users surveyed have used their phone to make some type of mobile payment. CUNA's Mobile Payments Survey polled 1,046 people via the Internet from a population of mobile phone users.
With the smartphone boom, analysts have said that security is consumers' primary concern with mobile payments, and the CUNA study confirmed those opinions, with almost 78% of respondents listing security as their most serious issue.
"The fact that the overwhelming majority of smartphone users listed security as a top concern is a reminder to financial institutions and others that offer mobile payments that users won't sacrifice convenience for security," said Paul Gentile, CUNA EVP of strategic communications and engagement. "While there have been many advances made with mobile security in recent years, respondents' concerns over security indicate financial institutions and companies in the mobile space must continue to stress their focus on security with their customers."
Not surprisingly, consumers surveyed said they like mobile payments for their convenience (91.6%). The most common single transaction dollar amount for a mobile payment was over $50 (34%), followed by $25.01 to $50 (9.2%), $10.01 to $25 (7.6%), $5.01 to $10 (3.2%) and $0.01 to $5 (1.7%).Of those surveyed, 44.3% indicated that they don't use mobile payments.
While the appeal of mobile payments is rising as the infrastructure for the payments option builds, consumers still like to pull out plastic when it comes to rewards, bonus features and points, with only 6.1% of respondents preferring mobile payments for these options. About 41.8% preferred credit cards, while 25.9% preferred debit cards and 26.2% said they were unsure.
Young to middle-aged Americans dominate the use of mobile payments, according to the study, which found the greatest use of mobile payments coming from ages 30 to 44 (59.6%), followed by those aged 18 to 29 (57.9%), 45 to 60 (47.8%) and 61 or older (24.1%).
The survey also suggested that more women (54.5%) than men (47.6%) like making mobile payments.
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