by Joseph Kenny | 04/19/08

Phoenix Payments, a research and consulting company, has recently made known the outcome of its 2007 Consumer Payments Preference and Usage Study. The study was subtitled "Debits Opportunities and Challenges." Performed over the Internet at the end of 2007 with a sample of over 2000 bank customers from across the country, the survey explored the relationship between debit cards and everyday Americans.

The survey asked such questions as: What brands and kinds of debit cards do Americans prefer? How Americans feel about debit cards? How often they use debit cards, and how does this use compare to other ways of paying?

The survey reports that three-fourths of Americans own at least one debit card in association with their main bank account. Americans are unlikely to switch their debit cards, the survey says, the debit cards they already use are associated with their bank accounts and give them special deals with their banks. Debit cards appear to be vastly different from credit cards in this respect.

Phoenix Payments President, Leon Majors, warns that while "debit card usage has replaced check writing... debit is also replacing cash and credit cards."

More debit card use means bank customers have to more money already in their accounts; thus, customers are more reluctant to seek out lines of credit .

Bank account holders nearing middle age, and bank account holders with lower incomes, seem to be ahead in this trend of preferring debit to credit cards. On the other hand, older and wealthier customers seem to use debit and credit about equally. Leon Majors predicts that "debit card usage at point-of-sale will continue to grow."

The more customers use debit cards, the more likely they are to carry out other kinds of bank transactions. Thus, banks will stand to benefit from this trend.