More Than 50% Of U.S. Credit Card Users Prefer Installments Over Discounts And Free Shipping, Splitit Survey Reveals

Survey Finds that High-Income and Millennial Consumers Have the Highest Credit Card Usage in Income and Age Categories, And Most in Favor of Paying in Installments

Splitit, a patented payment technology enabling merchants to offer interest-free monthly payments on customers’ existing credit cards, recently released the results of its ‘Consumer Credit Card Trends’ survey based on the responses of over 1,000 U.S. credit card holders, evaluating consumer credit card trends and consumer sentiment towards paying in interest-free installments compared to traditional promotional incentives, such as discounts and free shipping.

Most notably, the survey found that when credit card users are offered interest-free installments on their existing credit cards with no credit check or application process required, more than half (54%) of credit card users prefer installments over free shipping. Similarly, 53% of credit card users favored installments over a 10% discount.

Among credit card users, high-income consumers ($100-150K + annual salary) most prefer interest-free installments over incentives, with approximately 60% of this group preferring installments. The survey also revealed that 40% of credit card users would increase the size of their purchase by at least 10% if offered interest-free installment payments.

“Installments are a popular and successful payment method in six countries worldwide, but are relatively foreign to consumers in the U.S. and Europe,” said Alon Feit, CEO of Splitit. “Splitit aims to change this by offering a win-win solution for both consumers and merchants, allowing for better cash flow management for the consumers and increased sales for merchants.”

Some additional findings from the Splitit survey include:

• High-income consumers ($150K+ annual salary) have the highest percentage of credit card usage (61%), whereas lower income consumers ($0-25K annual salary) are less likely to use credit cards (31%)
• Millennials (age 25-34) are the second biggest credit card user group (37%), behind people 65+ (42%)
• Men are more likely to say yes when asked if they use a credit card (34%) than females (29.5%)
• Store cards are the most popular installment-based payment method for credit card users currently on the market (50%), followed by PayPal Credit (42%)
• The primary reasons that consumers like installments is for budgeting purposes (54%), affordability (40%), building credit (4%) and zero interest (2%)

About Splitit:
Splitit is revolutionizing the credit card industry by extending to all sizes of merchants/retailers the ability to offer interest-free monthly payments on their existing credit cards. The Splitit product has been patent protected in the United States since 2012. For more information, visit www.splitit.com.