Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
Digital payments landscape in the United States - statistics & facts
Digital payments in the U.S. are centered around the use of credit cards – with alternative payment methods like wallets and BNPL being the main challengers. It is expected that cards will remain dominant in U.S. POS transactions. What digital payment characteristics and payment trends are noteworthy for the United States?
It is expected that the United States will keep using credit cards for years to come. Alternative payment methods are seeing increased use, but at a lower pace than in emerging countries elsewhere in the world.
Digital wallets, cards, and e-commerce
Slowly but steadily, U.S. consumers have adopted digital wallets to store their multiple payment cards. In U.S. e-commerce, wallets are a preferred payment method. That said, the United States ranks behind several other countries worldwide when it comes to wallet adoption. The United States ranks 28th in a list of countries and territories worldwide on the use of mobile wallets. The use of such wallets was slightly higher among younger age groups.The growing need for BNPL regulation in the U.S.
A major topic following the cost-of-living crisis in the U.S., buy now, pay later solutions attracted many potential users in the United States. Most U.S. respondents considered using BNPL because of inflation or out of necessity. As BNPL does not follow the same rules as regular loans - due to their zero interest rate policy, BNPL fall in a legal gray area - concerns exist on whether people can stack loans. Delinquencies on Affirm's BNPL loans increased over the course of 2024. The most likely users of BNPL in the U.S. also typically had lower incomes.FedNow, Venmo, and U.S. real-time payments
The United States ranks relatively low when it comes to real-time payments. Transactions in Nigeria are being almost twice as high as in the U.S., for example. To improve on this position, the US Federal Reserve launched FedNow in the summer of 2023. Unlike UPI in India and Pix in Brazil, however, FedNow was not aimed at consumers but at banks. This might change in 2025, as Walmart announced a real-time pay by bank option for e-commerce, which was to be using both FedNow and the RTP network from The Clearing House. Meanwhile, the United States' main real-time payment brands for consumers are Venmo and Zelle. Venmo, especially, grew quickly among consumers, with its TPV outpacing that of its parent company PayPal.It is expected that the United States will keep using credit cards for years to come. Alternative payment methods are seeing increased use, but at a lower pace than in emerging countries elsewhere in the world.
