Online Marketplaces or Banks? Consumers Torn on Trusted Keeper of Secure Payments Credentials

In recent years, friction in the payments process has remained despite attempts to make payments as seamless as possible. Most consumers would rather not reenter payment card information each time they make an online purchase or when they replace a lost or stolen card. Credentials vaults promise to provide simpler payments experiences, and providers must show consumers that these vaults can make it happen.

“Payments and Credentials Vaults: The Trust Factor,” a collaboration with FIS, surveys 2,180 consumers to learn more about their experiences with credentials vaults and who they would trust to provide them.

Some key findings from the report include the following:

• The value of credentials vaults is especially evident to consumers who have stored payment information before and have experienced payments issues.

While 38% of consumers overall say they are highly interested in using a credentials vault, 61% of consumers who experienced issues with their payment credentials — such as losing a card or getting a new one — and who have 10 or more stored credentials with various merchants are highly interested in using credentials vaults. Additionally, consumers are at least 17% more likely to say they are interested in using a credentials vault if they have faced these challenges than those who have not experienced any issues. Ultimately, having issues with making payments and storing credentials drives interest in using a vault.

• Payments vaults may have a promising future, but to realize that potential, consumers must use them — and to do that, consumers must trust them.

Consumers who a report strong interest in using a vault are willing to grant most merchants access to their information; this willingness generally increases alongside a consumer’s interest in using a credentials vault. We found that 69% of highly interested consumers would allow marketplaces to access their information through a vault, but just 27% of consumers with slight interest in vault use say the same.

• Consumer trust in non-financial institutions to provide vault services has increased by at least 8% in the past two months.

Consumers who report being very interested in using vaults are more likely to trust non-financial institutions to provide this service than those less interested. For instance, 60% of consumers very or extremely interested in using a vault would trust PayPal to provide this service and 57% would trust Amazon.

To learn more about consumers’ interest in vaults and what entities they would trust to provide them, download the report.