The Federal Reserve has released a recent report that, among other things, shows that mobile banking usage is becoming quite common.
More Americans than ever used their mobile and smartphones to access online banking in 2012: approximately 28% of all phone owners. In 2011, only 21 percent of Americans used mobile phones to access online banking and financial services such as credit card statements. Among these individuals in 2012, 87 percent used online banking services to check their bank account or credit card balance, while 21 percent used their phones to deposit a check.
As mobile phones become an increasingly large part of our everyday lives, it comes as no surprise that more and more Americans are turning to their gadgets in order to keep up with their personal finances. With 87 percent of Americans owning a mobile phone – and 52 percent of Americans owning mobile phones with internet access – many banks and credit card issuers are rapidly deploying an array of financial services through mobile apps to aid their depositors' and borrowers' needs.
Another main reason many credit card companies are developing mobile apps is due to the way Americans are paying their bills: 15 percent of mobile phone owners used their devices to pay a bill at some point in 2012.
Mobile wallets are another booming trend, allowing individuals to link their debit and credit cards to their mobile devices, freeing them from the responsibility of having to carry their physical cards with them. As more and more retailers implement concepts such as NFC (near field communication), the usage of this form of payment is expected to skyrocket.
More information about these trends can be found in the latest Federal Reserve Report, entitled “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services”, which is the result of extensive polling of 2,600 adults.