Checkout Fees Survey: Customers More Likely to Stop Using Credit Cards Than Change Where They Shop

A recent legal settlement has made it easier for certain retailers to charge customers checkout fees when using credit cards. Stores don’t have to charge these fees if they think it will lead to loss of customers. So would credit card users be more likely to reconsider which businesses they patronize or just cut down on their credit card usage if these fees become more common?

Credit Card Use

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 10% of consumers said that they always use credit cards. 17% said they use credit cards most of the time. 16% said they use credit cards about half the time. 33% said they rarely use credit cards. And 25% of consumers said they never use credit cards.

Credit Card Fees

Of those credit card users, 27% said that fees often deter them from using credit cards. Another 27% said that fees sometimes deter them from using their credit cards. 14% said fees rarely deter them from using their credit cards. Just 10% said they never choose not to use their credit cards because of fees. And 21% said that they never come across credit card fees. Of those who use their credit cards at least half the time, just 15% said that fees often deter them from using their credit cards.

Fee Consequences

30% of credit card users said that if stores began charging checkout fees for credit card usage, they would definitely stop going to those stores. Another 43% said they would probably stop patronizing stores that enacted credit card checkout fees. 22% said they probably wouldn’t change which stores they patronize. And just 5% of credit card users said they definitely wouldn’t change where they shop because of checkout fees.More credit card users, 46%, said they would definitely stop using credit cards as often if checkout fees became more common. Another 39% said they would probably stop using credit cards as often. 14% said they probably wouldn’t cut down on their credit card usage because of checkout fees. And just 1% said they would definitely not stop using their credit cards because of increased checkout fees.

You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on January 28 via AYTM’s online survey panel.