The fact that more Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck these days has them focusing more on taking care of their short-term financial needs rather than doing more planning for the future, according to the results of a nationwide survey.
Nearly 80% of those who participated in the survey said they would struggle financially if they missed one paycheck, with 36% of those people saying they would not have enough money to cover all of their bills. To help them keep up, 44% of consumers said that keeping up with their bills is their main priority.
Interestingly enough, 60% of those who are behind on their bills said the reason why they haven’t paid them yet is not because of financial issues. Nearly one-third of consumers said they just forgot to pay the bill, while 10% said there were mistakes on the bill, 8% said that credit card on file was expired, 7% said they didn’t have access to pay the bill, and 5% said they never received the bill.
For one-third of respondents, the only option to pay their bills was to pay them in full. Only 41% were given the option of making a payment arrangement, according to the survey.
Consumers said they were also interested in receiving more notifications about when payments were due, and were more open to receiving notifications via email and text than via phone calls. Only 10% of consumers said that more traditional reminders, like letters and phone calls, make it easier for them to pay their bills. More payment options, more reminders — especially those that are sent digitally — and a simplified online payment process are what would make it easier for consumers to pay their bills.
