How Americans Pay Their Bills Report: 2024
August 13, 2024
Today we released our third annual How Americans Pay Their Bills Report that, among other findings, 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 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.
Highlights from this year’s doxoINSIGHTS’ How Americans Pay Their Bills Report, include:
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
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
Consumers continue to exhibit 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
How consumers pay their bills varies by payment type
- 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 electric.
Consumers desire more from their existing 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%)
How Americans Pay Their Bills
This report examines who the bill pay consumer is, and how and when they pay their household bills. When it comes to bill pay practices, the report shows, there is no normal.
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