Americans are using mobile payment services to transfer funds back and forth, rather than relying on a stereotypical bank, according to a new survey by finder.com. Banks can charge a hefty fee of up to $10 to make an overnight money transfer to pay a bill or send money to a friend, whereas many of the digital wallets, such as Facebook Messenger, Google Wallet, Square Wallet, and PayPal charge very little or nothing to transfer your money.
According to the results of the survey, the younger generation of single millennials, as in most cases, is the first to embrace this new technology with 64-percent using the digital wallet method to transfer money. Generation X (the 35 to 54-year-old group) are right up there at 40-percent and the Baby Boomers (55+ years of age) are using digital wallets at a rate of 17-percent. Overall, 2 in 5 Americans have used a digital wallet and apparently, the more children someone has, the more likely they will use a digital wallet.
The use of the digital wallet varies by other factors besides age. Asian Americans are the most likely at 68-percent to use a digital wallet, followed by Hispanic/Latino Americans at 55-percent, and African Americans with 53-percent. Student digital wallet users turn to it 63-percent of the time, wage earners are at 57-percent, self-employed at 49-percent, homemakers come in at 39-percent, and retirees are at a low 17-percent. It seems the more money you make, the more likely you are to use a digital wallet. People that make over $100,000 use their digital wallets twice as much as those that make $50,000. When asked how often they use a digital wallet, 57-percent said never, whereas 7-percent use one every day. Most of the answers in between averaged 5-percent – 2-3 times a month, a few times a year, once a month, once a week, almost daily, 2+ times a week, and only once.
It is clear that as time marches on, more people will be turning to a digital wallet for convenience and speed. Most digital wallets transfer the money within 24 hours and at no cost to the user. The time saving is a huge feature as well as the hassle of driving your car even to a drive-thru ATM. So it does seem as though this is further evidence that more people are embracing the use of their smartphone as their personal banker.