How Much Do Smartphone Users Bank In The Bedroom?

How much are consumers really addicted to their smartphones? Well, when it comes to mobile banking, the answer is quite addicted.

A new Harris Poll released by Feedzai — a data science company — claims that close to half (46 percent) of all smartphone bankers are turning toward their mobile banking needs while in the bedroom. Even more interesting is the 30 percent of consumers who said they’re conducting mobile banking business while in the bathroom. And in that same poll, 13 percent said they are banking via their mobile devices while driving.

That percentage is even higher when looking at how millennials turn toward mobile banking. In that demographic group, 60 percent said they turn to mobile banking while in the bedroom; 20 percent said they turn to mobile banking while on the go — specifically at a bar or while driving — the poll figures suggest.

(Source: www.feedzai.com)

This study, “2015 Consumer Banking and Shopping Behaviors: Sentiment on Personal Data,” highlights one thing: “shifts in consumer attitudes and actions in light of recent data breaches and the rise of smartphone usage,” according to a summary of the results.

So why does this matter?

“As we look at this brave new world of digital payments, fraud prevention and big data, it’s important to track the trends that are happening. As a company that does behavioral profiling and monitoring for our customers, surveys like this help us to redefine what to expect moving forward. As consumers begin to shift their behavior, even subtly, we are right there as it happens to ensure that their financial information is being protected from payment fraud and identity theft,” the report concludes.

Beyond mobile banking habits, the results from the poll also delve into consumers’ shopping behavior, which shows how much consumer behavior has changed as data breaches have played a larger role in the retail and payments marketplace — particularly in the past year alone. While last year’s survey said that 51 percent of consumers expect that data breaches are part of the cost of shopping with credit or debt cards, this year’s results were up slightly with 56 percent saying the same.

Here’s what the stats are saying, according to Feedzai’s results: “While cash was once king and Americans believe it’s the safest way to make a purchase, fewer are using cash in 2015. Over half of Americans believe cash is the safest way to purchase something (55 percent), while only one in five (22 percent) believe paying with credit cards is safest. Only 36 percent of consumers said they are using cash for more of their purchases in light of data breaches.”

And finally, when it comes to how much consumers are willing to share personal mobile data information with a financial institution, at least in exchange for protection, here’s what the results say:

• Men are more willing than women to share mobile data (34 percent versus 28 percent)

• More men are willing to share online activity (32 percent versus 26 percent) and even on social networks (26 percent versus 20 percent) in exchange for the same protection. In general, “27 percent of males would be willing to give up their data versus 19 percent of women,” the poll results revealed.

“In general, we can look at this data and say that women are more risk averse than men. In the context of Feedzai’s fraud prevention work, there’s a trade or a bargain — providing more data for our machine learning algorithm in return for being safer. This is the point that the industry is currently teetering on,” the report stated. “The industry needs to demonstrate that knowing more about you will help us protect your money. We’re starting to see this functionality in various apps — like banking apps asking for location. Five years ago that wouldn’t have happened or mattered, but now it’s a real, meaningful source of data.”