Electronic Transactions Beat Checks for First Time, Fed Says

Americans kept their checkbooks in their pockets and instead flashed debit cards in record numbers last year, making 2003 the first time plastic and other electronic payment methods beat out paper, according to a survey released yesterday by the Federal Reserve.

A total of 44.5 billion electronic payment transactions crossed the wires in 2003, compared with 36.7 billion check payments. Those numbers marked a turnabout from 2000, when Americans wrote 41.9 billion checks, and electronic payments clocked in at 30.6 billion, the Fed said.

The trend toward electronic payments and away from paper checks has been in progress for many years. But it has been accelerated by especially strong growth in the popularity of debit cards, which can now be used to buy just about anything — plane tickets or McDonald’s Happy Meals. The Fed estimates that debit card payments are increasing at an annual rate of 23.5 percent, more than credit cards and other types of electronic payment.

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