Consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices to pay bills and complete peer-to-peer (P2P) payments in the US, where the use of mobile wallets is also on the rise.

This is according to a new survey of more than 3,000 American consumers by Fiserv, which found that the percentage of consumers using mobile bill pay rose from 22 per cent in 2015 to 28 per cent in 2016. Among mobile banking users, 41 per cent had used the service to pay bills in the 30 days before they were canvassed.

The number of people using a P2P service in the past 30 days also grew five per cent year-on-year to reach 19 per cent in 2016. Sharing household expenses was the most common use of the service (nine per cent), followed by repaying a loan or debt to a friend or family member (seven per cent) and rent (six per cent).

People are also becoming more trusting of P2P payments, with the number of people saying that they had not tried the service due to security concerns dropping from 29 per cent in 2015 to 21 per cent in 2016.

Digital wallet adoption continued to grow at a slow but steady pace, with 13 per cent of respondents indicating that they have used a digital wallet in the last 30 days (up from 11 per cent in 2015 and eight per cent in 2014).

The most appealing features of digital wallets for consumers were being able to turn off credit or debit cards in case of fraud (43 per cent), withdrawing cash without a card (28 per cent), and paying someone in real time (26 per cent).

The report also found that Millennials were more likely to have used a digital payment service in the past 30 days compared to those aged 37 and over: for P2P transfers, 37 per cent of Millennials versus 13 per cent of older consumers; mobile bill pay, 54 per cent of Millennials versus 18 per cent of older consumers; and a digital wallet, 29 per cent of Millennials versus eight per cent of older consumers.

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