The growing popularity of debit cards and the displacement of cash by card and electronic payment alternatives is nothing new, but a Federal Reserve banks’ report released Thursday shows debit cards for the first time have surpassed cash as the most-used payment type.
The findings come from the 2018 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, the fifth in an annual survey overseen by the Federal Reserve banks of Atlanta, Boston, Richmond, Va., and San Francisco. The research draws on a nationally representative panel of consumers who record all their purchase and bill-pay transactions and amounts over several days. The year’s group included 2,873 participants who recorded transactions for at least four days in October.