GfK: Only 6 percent of Romanians use the card to pay bills

Newsroom 19/07/2010 | 13:47

Most Romanians still use cash to pay the bills. A GfK study shows that only 6 percent of Romanians use the card to pay their bills. The study was carried out by interviewing 1,000 people who were allowed to give multiple answers. The majority of the interviewees said they prefer to go office of the suppliers to pay their bills, or alternatively, to the post office or the bank cash point.

“The method they mostly go for is the payment directly at the office of the suppliers, as 77 percent of the people between 18 and 65 who pay the bills of the household resort to this. Other methods of payment are: payment at the post office (39 percent of respondents) and at the bank cash points (25 percent),” shows a GfK study.

Only 5 percent of those who pay the bills use ATMs, only 2 percent use internet banking, and 11 percent pay their bills through available services in stores or gas stations, shows the study.

A household spends on average RON 340 a month on utilities and telecommunications services (landline telephony, internet and TV). While Bucharesters will spend more on utilities and fixed telecom services, around RON 370, in Moldova and Oltenia the average spending is less- RON 270 and RON 255, respectively. The average cost of the mobile phone is an extra RON 61.