IT Facts

63.1 mln US households are paying their bills online rather than writing paper checks, according to Fiserv. 13% of respondents cited online security as the top reason for not using the online bill payment service, down from 17% in the 2007 survey. Overall, online security ranked third among barriers to online bill payment adoption 2008, compared to its number-one ranking in 2007. The primary barrier (15%) in the new study was “I don’t know enough about how it works.” 31 mln households are using online banking websites to pay bills, 47.9 mln households are using biller websites and 16 mln are using both online banking and biller sites to receive and pay bills. 63.1 mln of Internet-using households pay at least one bill online in an average month, up from 61 mln in the 2007 survey. These households collectively paid 934 mln bills in a typical month, according to the survey results. Online bill payments made at both bank and biller websites rose to 42% of the total volume of household bill payments made each month, up from 39% in the 2007 survey. Online bill payment adoption has significantly grown since the 2002 survey, when only 14% reported paying their bills online.

Internet-using households pay an average of 11 bills per month. Consumers use an average of three different ways to pay bills, with online, check, automatic debit and in-person topping the list of popular bill payment methods. Online bill payments at bank and biller websites comprised 42% of total monthly payments, followed by 31% of bills paid by check. 51% of survey respondents cited the environment as a reason why they chose to view and pay bills online. Of these, 72% identified paper and clutter reduction as chief benefits, followed by tree conservation (19%) and reduction in gas consumption (16%). Saving time and gaining control over their finances were major online bill payment benefits cited by 44% of respondents.

Share of businesses using credit cards has jumped from 16% in 1993 to 44% today, according to National Small Business Association. The proportion using bank loans dropped from 45% to 28%. A Federal Reserve survey showed that share of firms using business credit cards jumped from 34% in 1998 to 48% in 2003.

When asked whether this is a bad time to find a quality job, 65% of Americans said it was, matching the level of the 2001 recession, according to Rutgers University’s John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. With unemployment at 5.7%, the highest level since 2004, and weekly unemployment claims hitting a six-year high earlier this month, workers are worried about everything from their weekly hours to their total pay. About one-third of respondents say the amount they owe on credit cards exceeds their retirement savings; another 3% say their credit card debt would cancel out their retirement account. 91% of workers say they’re “very” or “somewhat satisfied” with their jobs.

A majority of American workers hold favorable attitudes toward their health and retirement benefits (62%), the number of hours they work (83%), and their annual income (74%). 55% of hourly workers are satisfied with their health and medical benefits, compared to 75% of salaried workers.

The smartphone market is expected to grow 52% in 2008 compared to 2007, to 190 mln units. That’s 15%, or $65 bln-worth, of the total 1.28 bln handsets expected to be sold 2008. In 2012, Gartner expects smartphone unit sales to reach over 700 mln of the total 1.8 bln handset market; that’s 65%, or $200 bln-worth, of the total $312 bln mobile phone market at that time.

UK population is expected to increase from its current figure of 61 mln to almost 77 mln in 2060 - a rise of 25%. This would make it the largest population in the EU, ahead of the projections for France (72 mln) and Germany (71 mln). Eurostat predicts the EU population will be 506 mln in 2060, up from 495 mln in 2008. It is expected to peak at 521 mln in 2035 but then decline.

The 1,000 largest US public companies in 2007 took 41 days on average to collect payments from their customers, up from 39.7 days a year earlier and 39.2 days in 2001, REL and CFO Magazine found.