Not only do consumers download financial institution apps, but they use the apps frequently too, according to credit card issuer Total Systems Services Inc.’s “2015 Consumer Payment Choice Study.” 

The study, released today, is based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers who have at least one debit and one credit card.

50% of survey respondents said they have a financial institution app installed on their smartphone and 70% of those consumers said they use the app at least a few times a month. The two most popular reasons consumers said they use their mobile banking app was to check their balances (86%) and check recent transactions (70%).

While smartphone owners may check their bank accounts, only 26% of survey respondents said they were interested in using their smartphone instead of a payment card to make a purchase at a store. That’s despite 10% of consumers saying they had already loaded their debit card information into their mobile device or in an app for the purpose of making purchases while 8% had already loaded credit card information. The survey did not specify if the purchase was to be made online or in store. 7% of survey respondents said they have made a payment at a retail location with a mobile device, a decrease from the 9% of survey respondents who said they made a payment via mobile at a retail location in the 2014 Consumer Payment Choice Study.

46% of respondents said they were never or not likely going to load their debit card or their credit card information onto their mobile device to make a purchase.

The survey also found:

• 14% of survey respondents pay most often with PayPal on online shopping sites.
• 52% have the PayPal app on their smartphones and 62% of them use the app at least a few times per month.
• 18% of survey respondents are interested in using a wearable device, such as a smart watch, to make a payment. The survey did not specify if the purchase was to be made online or in store.
• 29% are interested in receiving instant offers and promotions for the store they are visiting on a mobile device

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