Recurring Payments

Many companies are offering account holders the opportunity to enroll in a recurring payment program, allowing them to pay their bills automatically on a revolving basis. Often times, recurring payment programs are offered by issuers as an incentive for consumers to manage their financial obligations and pay down their balances.

In this issue of Cardbeat, we re-examine consumers’ opinions of recurring payment programs, in general, as well as consumers’ attitudes about several key scenarios that compare recurring payment programs to non-recurring payment programs.

Data included in this report were gathered using a web survey administered to 401 credit card users in the U.S. during April 2009. This topic was last addressed in the August 2007 and November 2006 issues of Cardbeat; in this issue, we will compare how consumers’ attitudes and behaviors have changed since the publication of those reports.

Prior to asking respondents if they are enrolled, thinking of enrolling, or do not know about recurring payment programs, we provided them with the following information about recurring payment programs:

Many companies provide consumers with the opportunity to set up automatic payments to pay down their balances on their accounts. To enroll in these types of programs, consumers provide credit card or bank information (routing number, account number, etc.) to the company, which automatically deducts a payment from the account holder’s account each time it comes due. These types of payments are called “recurring payments,” and will be referred to this throughout the survey. Sometimes consumers give their payment information (bank routing numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) directly to the company that provides this service (e.g., giving a credit card company the necessary bank information to withdraw money from a checking account to pay the credit card balance each month). Other consumers choose to have a 3rd party process them (i.e., automatic bill payment services, such as Altru, Billeo, or Yodlee). Companies that provide these types of services will be referred to as “institutions” in this survey.