Two Big Banks’ Takes On Mobile Payments Interest

Two different banks — JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. Two different studies on the same topic — mobile banking and mobile payments.

Two very different results.

What Consumers Said

JPMC’s study consisted of 1,008 respondents from a survey of 1,500 adults across the U.S. Those consumers were asked how they felt about paying with mobile wallets. And while Chase Pay isn’t quite in the market for consumers to pay in-store yet, 48 percent said they’d like to pay using their phone versus a credit card or cash.

Moreover, looking ahead, 46 percent plan to make payments with mobile phones more in the next five years. Why? This next stat gives a use case for mobile payments: 40 percent have either lost or forgotten their debit or credit card when they needed it most.

That same survey pointed out how attached consumers were to their mobile phones, which showed that 32 percent said they would be upset if they lost their cellphone — frankly, that seems quite low. To give that stat some context, JPMC asked respondents about how upset they would be losing their wedding bands, and just 19 percent responded that they would be upset (no stat provided on how many were actually married).

What Another Group Of Consumers Said

Bank of America also released the results of a mobile payments/banking survey this week. This independently contracted survey consisted of 1,004 respondents throughout the U.S., comprised of adults 18+ with a current banking relationship (checking or savings) and who own a smartphone.

The BoA survey revealed that 57 percent of consumers would consider, or are already using, a P2P money transfer service from their bank (didn’t specify which banks). The survey also showed that 40 percent of respondents would use, or already use, their phones to make purchases at checkout. That figure is up from 34 percent from the survey the year prior.

“This year’s report demonstrates the growing reliance on our mobile devices to navigate daily life and manage our finances, including significant growth in mobile banking and emerging payments,” said Michelle Moore, head of digital banking at Bank of America, in the report.

Of course, asking consumers what they would do and not what they have done are very different things and also assumes that consumers know what is meant by paying with their phones. It’s still such a new experience that many consumers remain confused. So, this data might not be more directional, if anything, or conclusive with respect to the reality of using mobile phones for payment in a physical store.

How Consumers Use Their Phones

In Chase’s survey, this year’s respondents reported using mobile apps to view account balances 21 percent more than last year, 20 percent more to pay bills and 8 percent more to transfer money.

“We saw consumers really step up their use of digital banking tools — especially mobile apps — in the last year,” said Donna Vieira, CMO of consumer banking at Chase.

Those figures might be impacted once the upgrade to Chase QuickPay goes into effect. Chase recently announced that P2P transactions will be able to take place in real time, enabling its customers to withdraw the funds immediately at an ATM or use them to pay bills right away. Chase is also planning on enabling its smartphones to take cash out of ATMs later this year without needing a card.

What BoA’s Results Said

Fifty-four percent of Bank of America’s survey respondents say they are active users of a mobile banking app (up from 48 percent last year), and 35 percent said they are using the app once a day, while 84 percent said they are checking it once a week or more.

How are they using it?

85 percent to check balances/statements; 58 percent to transfer money between accounts; 52 percent to pay bills via the app

87 percent for banking alerts and notifications — with fraud/unusual activity accounting for 54 percent

52 percent used to check balances; 43 percent used it for getting alerts for low balances

71 percent of consumers take action when they receive an alert

Regardless of how the data from these two banks’ surveys stack up, what the data shows is that there is an ever-growing dependence on mobile devices.

Stay tuned on Monday when PYMNTS will reveal brand new data on Apple Pay usage in-store, the largest consistent study of Apple Pay usage since Apple Pay launched in 2014.