MasterCard: Automatic Payments Surpass Checks as Bill-Paying Method

Purchase, N.Y. -- Credit card giant MasterCard said on Thursday that
automatic payments have for the first time surpassed check writing as the
dominant method for paying recurring bills, according to the results of a
new consumer research study. The study showed that 67% of U.S.
households now pay some recurring bills automatically, compared with
64% writing checks. Nearly four in 10 households link payments
automatically to a credit card and three in 10 charge them automatically
to a debit card.
http://www.mastercardinternational.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.cgi?id=1118