Check it Out -- Checks Continue to Increase!
Check it Out -- Checks Continue to Increase!
Consumers will write nearly $2.5 trillion in checks at retail stores (net of what are called non-payments), place $716 billion of retail purchases on general purpose credit cards, spend $935 billion in cash, and purchase $227 billion utilizing a Debit Card or other alternative payment method, in 1996.
This means that Debit is growing only slightly faster than cash is declining, as a retail payment mechanism. This also means that 56.9% of all purchases will be made by check, 21.4% by Cash, 16.4% by Credit Card and the balance, 5.3%, by Debit and other means.
It is expected that these relationships will not change dramatically through the end of the decade, with checks rising 1.2%, credit cards increasing 1.8% and Cash declining 2.7% by the year 2000.
While the value of
retail checks is expected to reach $2.5 trillion in 1996, this will represent only 6.1% of the total value of checks written nationally, including business to business and bill paying.
The three principle "general purpose" cards, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, represent, 43.8%, 27.3% and 20.4% of the U.S. card market, respectively.
While Debit growth continues, as it displaces Cash at the point of sale, Checks continue to grow annually at 7-8%, with growth in Credit Cards representing approximately 10% in terms of use over the last two years.
Footnote: Non-payments represented 2.6% of total check volume in 1994. Total check volume was $2,933 billion, with $743 billion checks written to transfer funds, and securities or personal checks written to repay credit card debt. This left 1994 personal checks, net of non-payments, $2,190 billion, and 1995 estimated to be $2.339 billion, net of non-payments.
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