How Do Consumers’ Fraud Experiences Vary with Their Financial Vulnerability?
More than one in five U.S. consumers experienced financial fraud in 2023. Data show more financially vulnerable consumers are more likely to experience fraud and ultimately incur fraud losses.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
Banking and Finance
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Aditi Routh
Ying Lei Toh
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October 8, 2025
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U.S. Consumers’ Use of Cryptocurrency for Payments
Some policymakers and payments industry participants expect consumers to use stablecoins—a type of cryptocurrency intended to maintain a stable value relative to some other asset—for payments. However, the share of U.S. consumers who use cryptocurrency for payments has been very small and recently declined slightly. The most cited reason for using cryptocurrency is that the person or business receiving the money preferred it, suggesting many users passively choose cryptocurrency for payments.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
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Fumiko Hayashi
Aditi Routh
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September 24, 2025
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Contact and Payment Methods Used for the Top Five Categories of Scams
In recent years, the amount of money U.S. consumers have lost to scams has increased sharply. The contact methods scammers use to reach consumers and the payment methods defrauded consumers use to pay scammers vary depending on the category of scam. However, both the use of social media as a contact method and the use of cryptocurrency, payment apps, and bank transfers as payment methods have increased across the top five scam categories.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
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Fumiko Hayashi
Ying Lei Toh
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September 3, 2025
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Card-Not-Present Fraud Rates in the United States After the Migration to Chip Cards
Unlike many other countries, the United States did not see a surge in the “card-not-present” fraud rate immediately after migrating to chip-card technology. Instead, the U.S. card-not-present fraud rate of non-prepaid debit cards has increased gradually over the past decade. Merchants’ and cardholders’ card-not-present fraud loss rates have increased for both dual- and single-message networks, while issuers’ card-not-present fraud loss rate has increased for single-message networks.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
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Fumiko Hayashi
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May 21, 2025
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Has Access to Bank On-Certified Accounts Helped Ease Financial Barriers to Bank Account Ownership?
The Bank On initiative has increased the availability of safe, low-cost bank accounts over the past decade, which may help alleviate financial barriers to bank account ownership. Data suggest that this increase in availability has helped ease a key barrier—the inability to meet the minimum balance required to waive monthly account fees—but has not eased the barrier of high or unpredictable fees.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
Banking and Finance
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Ying Lei Toh
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May 14, 2025
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Game Changer: The Evolution of Video Games’ Payments Infrastructure
Video games’ evolving revenue models and payments infrastructure have helped the industry boom.
Payments System Research Briefing
Payments
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Julian Alcazar
Sam Baird
Sam Baird
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April 9, 2025
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Did Card-Present Fraud Rates Decline in the United States After the Migration to Chip Cards?
The U.S. payment industry began migrating to EMV chip-card technology in the mid-2010s to mitigate card-present fraud, especially counterfeit fraud. However, for non-prepaid debit card transactions processed by dual-message networks, the counterfeit fraud rate has not declined, and the lost-or-stolen fraud rate and overall card-present fraud rate have increased. For these transactions, card-present fraud loss rates have declined for issuers but increased for merchants and cardholders.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
Banking and Finance
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Fumiko Hayashi
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February 12, 2025
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Could Municipal IDs Facilitate Access to Financial Services?
Of the approximately 5.6 million U.S. households that did not have a bank or credit union account in 2023, about 13 percent cited not having the identification (ID) required to open an account as a reason for being unbanked. Municipal ID programs provide a form of local identification and can be designed to facilitate access to banking and financial services, though challenges to achieving this potential remain.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
Banking and Finance
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Terri Bradford
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December 4, 2024
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Combating Authorized Push Payment Scams in Fast Payment Systems
Fast payments can help consumers improve their cash flow, but the speed and irrevocability of these payments also make them a target for fraudsters seeking to commit authorized push payment (APP) scams. Combating APP scams is critical to ensuring the safety of fast payments and building and maintaining consumer confidence in fast payment systems.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
Banking and Finance
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Ying Lei Toh
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November 15, 2024
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Cash Bill Pay Services and Payment Inclusion in the United States
Cash bill pay, a service that allows consumers to pay bills with cash at participating retailers, may be one way to promote payment inclusion in the increasingly digitized U.S. economy. With this service, consumers who prefer to use cash, or those without a transaction account, can have in-person, tangible experiences paying bills.
Payments
Payments System Research Briefing
Banking and Finance
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Franklin Noll
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October 18, 2024
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