55% of Consumers Using Stored Payment Info Interested in ‘Credential Vaults’

Stored payment credentials are often problematic, which is driving interest for all-in-one credentials vaults that solve common pain points.

We explore this in “Payments And Credentials Vaults: Gauging Consumer Interest,” a PYMNTS and FIS report based on surveys over of 2,000 U.S. consumers and the needs they express.

Research reveals that most consumers who store payment credentials have experienced checkout friction “because of data theft or outdated payment information. Rather than abandoning storage of their credentials, consumers want a more modern iteration — a credentials vault. This is a secure app that stores and encrypts a consumer’s payment credentials and provides these details safely to merchants at the time of payment.”

The concept of a single point of contact for consumers to safely update personal or account information without directly providing it to merchants is gaining awareness and interest as consumers become more demanding in the speed and quality of checkout experiences.

payment credentials

According to the study, over half (55%) of consumers who store payment credentials have experienced checkout disruptions, such as expired or stolen cards. That ends up having the opposite of the intended effect of seamless ease and speedy checkouts, which is driving more high-spending demographic groups’ interest in a single, unified credentials vault.

“The most active stored credential users — millennials, high-income consumers, and connected-tech consumers — are most likely to experience friction with their payment credentials,” the study states. “Our research found that 70% of millennials, 62% of high-income consumers, and 68% of connected-tech consumers experienced issues related to their payment credentials in the last 12 months.”

Specifically, we found that three key groups exhibit the most interest in credentials vaults: consumers who store at least 10 credentials, those who experience issues with stored credentials, and connected-tech consumers.

The data shows that 64% of consumers with 10 or more stored credentials “who experienced issues are highly interested in using a payments and credentials vault. Interestingly, 43% of “super-storers” who have not encountered issues also express interest in this method, as do 59% of connected-tech consumers who own seven to eight digital devices on average.

Payments And Credentials Vaults: Gauging Consumer Interest