39% of US consumers use a FinTech service
Neo-banks, non-banks, and a host of other constructs fall under the heading of “FinTech,” and while broadly popular among the digital-first economy, specific user profiles emerge upon closer examination.
PYMNTS analyzed this in “The Disbursements Satisfaction 2022: The Role of FinTechs”, a collaboration with Ingo Money, and part of The Disbursements Satisfaction 2022 series.
In a survey of over 3,600 US consumers, we found that 39% use FinTechs in some capacity, either as their primary or secondary financial institution (FI). This indicates that at least 68 million US consumers use FinTechs to some extent, often to receive or send money in a peer-to-peer (P2P) manner.
However, the study stated that “FinTechs are particularly popular among low-income consumers who live paycheck to paycheck and have trouble paying bills,” with 39% of consumers in that bracket using FinTechs and 22% using them as their primary FI.
Among consumers who don’t live paycheck to paycheck, only 14% use FinTechs as their primary FI.
“They are more likely to use FinTechs as secondary FIs, with 26% doing so,” the study found.
While similar trends are observed among high-income and low-income consumers, large numbers of both types of consumers use FinTechs.
“The difference is that high-income consumers are more likely to use FinTechs as secondary FIs than primary FIs, while low-income consumers use them as primary and secondary FIs in roughly equal measure,” according to the study.
These statistics lead to the conclusion “that although consumers from a wide range of financial backgrounds use FinTechs, those who use them as primary banks may see them as cost-effective alternatives to traditional banks and credit unions.”
Additionally, we found that “consumers who use FinTechs as their primary FI also tend to use them for a broader mix of what might be considered ‘quota’ financial products, including ATMs, credit and debit cards, compared to consumers who using FinTechs as secondary FIs.”
Among consumers using FinTechs as secondary FIs, P2P payments are the dominant use case.
