Pay by Bank's 32% Bill-Pay Upside Rests on Incentives
A Trustly-sponsored PYMNTS Intelligence survey says digital bank users would shift more bill payments to Pay by Bank if offered incentives. It measures intent.
Pay by Bank could take about 32% of bill payments among digital bank users if discounts and buyer protection are offered, against 22% for all surveyed bank customers, according to PYMNTS Intelligence. The estimate is stated switching intent from a Trustly-sponsored survey, not observed behavior, and immediate cash benefits matter most.
The Ledger Desk · 3 min read- Digital bank users say 32% of bill payments could move to Pay by Bank with discounts and buyer protection, versus 22% for all surveyed bank customers.
- Immediate cash benefits are the top draw for 43.1% of digital bank users; buyer protection is cited by 16.9%.
- Digital wallets are the preferred method of 44.6% of digital bank customers, so the rail competes with wallets as well as cards.
- The figures are stated preferences from a survey of 2,071 adult U.S. bank customers, sponsored by a Pay by Bank provider; they are not transaction data.
- For billers the open question is who funds the incentive; the survey does not measure that.
Pay by Bank has a plausible path to roughly a third of bill payments among digital bank customers, but the survey behind that claim ties it to incentives. PYMNTS Intelligence, in collaboration with Trustly, reports that 32% of bill payments among digital bank users could move to the rail with discounts and buyer protection, against 22% across all surveyed bank customers. These are stated preferences, so the number measures willingness, not the volume any biller will see.
What the survey measured
The findings come from a PYMNTS Intelligence survey of 2,071 adult U.S. bank customers, described as Census-balanced. It asks what share of transactions respondents would shift to Pay by Bank if discounts and buyer protection were offered. Digital bank users score higher in every category PYMNTS reports: 35.4% for account-to-account transactions versus 25.3% overall, 25% for groceries versus 16.8%, and 22.3% for retail versus 15.4%.
Cash beats protection as the lever
Immediate money outweighs safety in what digital bank users say they want. PYMNTS reports that 43.1% name immediate cash benefits as the most important reason to use Pay by Bank, while 16.9% cite buyer protection. A further 25.4% say none of the listed incentives would raise their interest. On the survey's own evidence, discounts carry most of the persuasion, and protection plays a supporting role.
The competitor is the wallet, not only the card
Digital bank customers already lean toward wallets. PYMNTS reports that 44.6% of them prefer digital wallets, against 22.7% of the full sample, with debit cards at 29.6% and credit cards at 10.1% among digital bank users. Wallet preference among them reaches 47.3% for account-to-account transactions. Pay by Bank therefore has to displace a habit already tied to a phone, not only a card number.
Debit substitution is conditional
Few customers treat the rail as a replacement for debit today. According to PYMNTS, 12.2% of all surveyed bank customers see Pay by Bank as a debit substitute now. With rewards, buyer protection, or both, 72% either already see it that way or would under at least one of those conditions. The gap between 12.2% and 72% is the size of the incentive problem a provider or biller would have to close.
How to read the number
The 32% figure is a ceiling on stated intent, not a forecast. Trustly sells Pay by Bank and sponsored the report, and the survey does not measure what incentives would cost billers or who would fund them. A biller weighing the rail should treat the figure as a hypothesis and test any discount against its own payment costs and observed customer behavior before drawing conclusions.
- How much of bill payment volume could move to Pay by Bank?
- PYMNTS Intelligence reports that 32% of bill payments among digital bank users could shift if discounts and buyer protection were offered, compared with 22% across all surveyed bank customers. It is a stated-intent estimate, not observed behavior.
- What incentive matters most to digital bank users?
- Immediate cash benefits. PYMNTS reports 43.1% of digital bank users name them the most important reason to use Pay by Bank, while 16.9% cite buyer protection and 25.4% say none of the listed incentives would raise their interest.
- Is Pay by Bank already a debit substitute?
- For few people today. PYMNTS reports 12.2% of all surveyed bank customers see it as a debit substitute now, and 72% either do or would under at least one condition, such as rewards, buyer protection, or both.
- Who produced the research, and how should it be read?
- PYMNTS Intelligence produced it in collaboration with Trustly, a Pay by Bank provider, from a survey of 2,071 adult U.S. bank customers. Because the sponsor sells the rail, the switching figures are best read as an indication of intent, not a forecast.