SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new report released today by doxo shows that while two in three consumers (65%) feel at least somewhat relieved that inflation appears to be cooling, 74% have made changes to their spending and savings habits over the past year. doxo’s third annual How Americans Pay Their Bills Report reveals the vast majority of consumers (85%) are just as or more worried about their ability to pay their household bills as they were last year. The report also offers in-depth findings and analysis of demographic data and behavior of the US bill pay consumer and reveals that the average household in America now spends $25,513 per year, or 34% of their income, on the most essential bills.
“While inflation has certainly cooled since its peak, Americans are still reeling from higher-than-average prices and adjusting their spending and saving where possible,” said Liz Powell, Senior Director of INSIGHTS at doxo. “The impact of inflation has a direct, and in many cases lasting, impact on the overall financial health of American households and the ability or method in which they can pay their monthly bills.”
Key Findings from this year’s doxoINSIGHTS’ How Americans Pay Their Bills Report, include:
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Inflation is still having a major impact on American households:
- 74% of consumers have made changes to their spending and savings habits over the past year
- 85% are just as or more worried about their ability to pay their household bills as they were last year
- 82% of consumers have found it hard to stay on top of household bills due to the rising cost of groceries in the past year
- Despite cost-of-living increases across the board, 65% of Americans received no salary increase or an increase of less than 1% over the past year
- 58% of consumers believe they could only pay their bills for 3 months without their household’s primary source of income
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When asked which bills consumers are concerned with their ability to pay, utilities continue to top the list:
- 58% – Utilities
- 50% – Auto insurance
- 46% – Cable & Internet
- 45% – Mobile phone
- 41% – Health insurance
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Bills eat up a significant portion of total household income:
- Household bills make up more than a third (34%) of the average household income [with average household income of $74,755 and average annual bill spend of $25,513 ($2,126 per month) up slightly from $24,557 ($2,046 per month) last year]
- 35% of consumers said they feel accomplished when paying their bills, 25% of consumers said they feel relieved
- 17% report bill pay makes them feel anxious or stressed
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Two-thirds of bills are paid by plastic:
- The average household pays 10 bills per month, with 17% of households delaying at least one bill per month
- 28% of bill payers have variable income from month to month, which makes making bills in a consistent manner difficult
- 65% of bills are paid with cards (credit, debit, prepaid) vs. cash, check or ACH
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Worries tied to paying bills:
- “Stolen payment information” and “identity fraud” tied as the top concern among consumers when it comes to paying their bills, at 86% each
- “Impact to credit score” trailed behind just slightly at 85%
- “Late fees” (70%) and “overdraft fees” (59%) were also concerns for a majority of bill paying consumers
Bill Pay Demographics & Behavior
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Who pays the bills:
- Women are more likely to manage household bills than men, with 54% of bill payers being female, while 46% are male
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When consumers pay their bills:
- Using anonymized data from doxo’s 10 million users, the report breaks down the days and times that consumers are most likely to pay their bills
- The window between 10am and 12pm is when individuals are most likely to make payments.
- Monday, Tuesday and Friday are the most popular days to make bill payments, while most consumers take a break from payments and paperwork on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday are the least popular).
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How consumers pay their bills - payment instruments:
- The majority of doxo’s users leverage cards to pay their bills. 62% use debit cards and 15% use credit cards. That’s compared to 24% who use ACH (direct bank account transfer).
- To break it down further, doxo’s survey results revealed that more than 70% of consumers use ACH to pay their credit card bills and mortgage payments, but when it comes to rent, just over one-third of consumers (34%) use ACH.
- Debit cards are also used to widely varying degrees. Only 10% of respondents use a debit card to make mortgage payments, and 22% of respondents use a debit card to make electric bill payments.
- Cash is rarely used to pay household bills beyond rent. 13% of consumers use it to pay rent with cash payments used 2% or less for utilities like water, waste, gas and electricity.
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How consumers pay their bills - payment practices:
- Websites account for the largest chunk of usage for the majority of bills (over 50%), with the remaining percentage split between other platforms, including bank bill pay, phone payments, mail-in payments, and even in-person payments
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Improving the bill pay experience:
- When it comes to how they’d like to improve the bill pay experience, consumers prefer email reminders, with 60% of respondents wanting the feature from their bill pay platform
- 57% of Americans say they’d like to-do lists to help keep them on top of their bills, followed by the ability to pay through a mobile app (55%)
For the complete How Americans Pay Their Bills Report and additional insights, go to https://www.doxo.com/w/reports/.
About doxoINSIGHTS
doxoINSIGHTS provides direct insight into household financial health and spending activity by leveraging consumer surveys and doxo’s unique aggregate bill pay data set, comprising actual bill payment activity to confirmed household service providers across the country. doxo data brings together the broadest available data set for analyzing actual household bill payment activity, pulling from over 10 million paying consumers across over 97% of U.S. zip codes. doxo’s payment network covers over 120,000 billers in 45 different service categories and enables payments using bank accounts, credit cards or debit cards. This uniquely broad statistical foundation powers doxoINSIGHTS reports – uncovering key trends for household financial health and bill payment behavior.
About doxo
doxo delivers innovation that transforms the bill pay experience for consumers, billers and financial technology providers. For over 10 million consumers, doxo’s all-in-one bill pay makes it simple to organize and pay any bill on any device through a secure checkout. For billers, doxo’s network-driven platform enables online and mobile payments with a ridiculously simple integration, radically lower costs, and game-changing features that are unavailable with legacy bill pay vendors. For fintech partners, doxo delivers financial innovations to consumers across 97% of US Zip Codes, who make payments from more than 5,000 financial institutions to over 120,000 billers in 45+ service categories. To learn more about America’s leading bill pay network, visit doxo.com.
