Bits and Pieces

Some statistics illuminate consumer attitudes toward financial services and products.

• A large portion of American households has computers and uses the Internet for a variety of transactions. Nonetheless, they still prefer using brick-and-mortar banks and shy away from using online services for their financial transactions. The research firm, TowerGroup, found that 92 percent of 3,000 households surveyed had used bank branches in the previous month. Even when a household's primary bank offered online services, only 18 percent of those surveyed had used those services, while 85 percent of them admitted that they had used a branch of their bank during the previous month.

• Do you send statement stuffers in you monthly bills? A recent Research Alert summarized a survey by the research firm, CTAM. According to the survey, 70 percent of consumers think that inserts are an annoyance, and 64 percent would prefer not to receive them. Nonetheless, consumers do not always ignore them. Although 31 percent throw them away without looking at them, 61 percent look at them, and 51 percent skim them.