As online bill paying has gone mainstream in the past decade, it's no longer the domain of younger, middle-income, tech-savvy men, according to an annual national survey sponsored by Fiserv Inc.
The 2010 Consumer Billing and Payments Trends survey showed that 51% of online bill payers are women, compared with 61% who are men from the same survey in 2002. Other key findings were that paper checks have declined from 61% of all payments in 2000 to only 26% in 2010.
The survey has been used to track online bill paying since 2000 and this year's report, just released, reflects the responses of 3,029 consumers at least 21 years old and responsible for paying their household bills, the company said. It was conducted in January by The Marketing Workshop.
The age of online bill payers also has become more representative of the general population, the study found, as has the household income of users.
"Early users were tech-savvy and tended to be young and male, as is typical with new technology. Now it's moms and seniors and people at all income levels using the service," said Geoff Knapp, vice president for online banking and consumer insights at Fiserv in Brookfield, Wis.
"Online bill payment has become mainstream and there's still room to grow," he said.
