Introduction
From Seashells to Bytes
Electronic
Payments: The Wave of the Future, Here Today
Check Use Waning but Still Important
Cash Is
Still Popular
Consumers’ Corner |  | | | |
Introduction
More
than half of the noncash payments made in the United States today are initiated
electronically using debit cards, credit cards, or automated clearinghouse, or
ACH, transactions, according to Federal Reserve studies. The number of electronic
transactions increased 45 percent in just three years recently, climbing to about
44.5 billion separate payments in a single year.
Debit Cards
When you use your debit card, you typically enter a secret personal identification
number, or PIN, and the money is quickly, sometimes instantaneously, taken out
of your checking account. It is then transferred into the account of the party
you are paying. Debit cards account for more than half of the overall growth
in electronic payments; payments in the U.S. recently doubled to nearly 16 billion
transactions. The average dollar amount of a transaction is $40, according to
studies, mostly for routine retail purchases. |
