Recent payment trends in the United States

Payment systems

The check is dead! Long live the check! A Check 21 update

Check 21 legislation has enabled the check clearing system to transform from paper to electronics, and much more rapidly than some had predicted. As a result of competition with other payment methods, check use has been declining since the mid-1990s, but because of the rapid adoption of electronic payment methods, checks are evolving and are unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Checks are still a convenient way to initiate some payments, and electronic processing has only made them more competitive with all types of electronic payments.Checks ; Electronic funds transfers

The use of checks and other noncash payment instruments in the United States

Statistical estimates indicate that the use of checks in the United States has been declining since the mid-1990s, even as the population and the level of economic activity have been increasing. In contrast, the use of electronic payments has been growing at high and accelerating rates. Nonetheless, the paper check remains the predominant means of making retail payments and will likely continue to play a significant role in the U.S. payment system for the foreseeable future. The number and value of checks paid varies across depository institutions according to type, size, and location, in part a result of differences in the use of checks and electronic payments by households, businesses, and governments. Overall, household's share of total checks written has increased relative to that of businesses and governments.Payment systems ; Electronic funds transfers

Trends in the use of payment instruments in the United States

In 2003, for the first time, the number of electronic payments in the United States exceeded the number of check payments--a result of substantial growth in electronic payments (especially by debit card) and a decline in check payments. The shift toward electronic payments suggests that, as with other large economies, many payments formerly made by check are now being made with electronic payment instruments. As in past years, however, the value of checks far exceeded the value of commonly used electronic payments. ; Comparisons among groups of depository institutions of different types and sizes suggest that the distribution of payments of different types is linked in part to the types of customers those institutions tend to serve. For example, at credit unions, which generally serve individuals rather than businesses, checks accounted for a smaller proportion of account debits, and debit card payments and ATM withdrawals accounted for a larger proportion, than at institutions of other types. ; Overall, "on us" check payments, those for which the payer and payee used the same institution, declined slightly. The rate at which checks are returned also declined, while the rate of returned ACH payments--almost twice that of checks--increased, in part because of new types of ACH payments, including ACH transactions initiated with a check. ; Data gathered in 2004 also reveal some differences among geographic regions. Debit card use was substantially greater, and check use substantially lower, in the West than in other regions. In contrast, debit card use was considerably less common in the Northeast, and the decline in check payments since 2000 was less pronounced in that region. ; Indirect evidence--data on ATM withdrawals and cash back from debit card payments--suggests that cash remains a popular means of making payments. Industry data showing increases in ATMs and ATM transactions appear to reflect a shift toward greater use of ATMs and less use of checks to obtain cash, and do not necessarily indicate an increase in the use of cash.Payment systems ; Checks

Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice: 2006 Conference Summary

This paper summarizes the proceedings of the second Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice conference, held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on July 2527, 2006. These conferences are unique in featuring the collaboration of two groups of payments experts the private-sector payments industry on the one hand, and the academic, research, and policymaking communities on the other to stimulate more research and understanding of consumer payment behavior. The central focus of this second conference was learning more about the numerous consumer payments data sources that are available but which are not well known or easily accessed, often for proprietary reasons and discovering what further information is needed. Panel sessions on payment card loyalty programs and the transition from cash to electronic payments were informative and stimulated much debate. Research paper presentations provided additional support for the collection and analysis of innovative new data sources to enhance our understanding of the decisions consumers make when choosing payment methods

Evidence for L1-associated DNA rearrangements and negligible L1 retrotransposition in glioblastoma multiforme

Background: LINE-1 (L1) retrotransposons are a notable endogenous source of mutagenesis in mammals. Notably, cancer cells can support unusual L1 retrotransposition and L1-associated sequence rearrangement mechanisms following DNA damage. Recent reports suggest that L1 is mobile in epithelial tumours and neural cells but, paradoxically, not in brain cancers. Results: Here, using retrotransposon capture sequencing (RC-seq), we surveyed L1 mutations in 14 tumours classified as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) or as a lower grade glioma. In four GBM tumours, we characterised one probable endonuclease-independent L1 insertion, two L1-associated rearrangements and one likely Alu-Alu recombination event adjacent to an L1. These mutations included PCR validated intronic events in MeCP2 and EGFR. Despite sequencing L1 integration sites at up to 250× depth by RC-seq, we found no tumour-specific, endonuclease-dependent L1 insertions. Whole genome sequencing analysis of the tumours carrying the MeCP2 and EGFR L1 mutations also revealed no endonuclease-dependent L1 insertions. In a complementary in vitro assay, wild-type and endonuclease mutant L1 reporter constructs each mobilised very inefficiently in four cultured GBM cell lines. Conclusions: These experiments altogether highlight the consistent absence of canonical L1 retrotransposition in GBM tumours and cultured cell lines, as well as atypical L1-associated sequence rearrangements following DNA damage in vivo

Somatic retrotransposition in the developing rhesus macaque brain.

The retrotransposon LINE-1 (L1) is central to the recent evolutionary history of the human genome and continues to drive genetic diversity and germline pathogenesis. However, the spatiotemporal extent and biological significance of somatic L1 activity are poorly defined and are virtually unexplored in other primates. From a single L1 lineage active at the divergence of apes and Old World monkeys, successive L1 subfamilies have emerged in each descendant primate germline. As revealed by case studies, the presently active human L1 subfamily can also mobilize during embryonic and brain development in vivo. It is unknown whether nonhuman primate L1s can similarly generate somatic insertions in the brain. Here we applied approximately 40× single-cell whole-genome sequencing (scWGS), as well as retrotransposon capture sequencing (RC-seq), to 20 hippocampal neurons from two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). In one animal, we detected and PCR-validated a somatic L1 insertion that generated target site duplications, carried a short 5 transduction, and was present in ∼7% of hippocampal neurons but absent from cerebellum and nonbrain tissues. The corresponding donor L1 allele was exceptionally mobile in vitro and was embedded in PRDM4, a gene expressed throughout development and in neural stem cells. Nanopore long-read methylome and RNA-seq transcriptome analyses indicated young retrotransposon subfamily activation in the early embryo, followed by repression in adult tissues. These data highlight endogenous macaque L1 retrotransposition potential, provide prototypical evidence of L1-mediated somatic mosaicism in a nonhuman primate, and allude to L1 mobility in the brain over the past 30 million years of human evolution.We thank John V. Moran for sharing L1.3 plasmids and the HeLa-JVM cell line, Margaret Z. Zdzienicka for sharing the V79B cell line, Jeffrey A. Jeddeloh for assistance with RC-seq probe design, and the QBI, TRI, and IGC flow cytometry facilities for technical advice. This study was funded by the following: Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator grants (GNT1161832 to S.W.C., GNT1176574 tN.J., GNT1173476 to S.R.R., GNT1173711 to G.J.F.), an NHMRCARC Dementia Research Development fellowship (GNT1108258 to G.O.B.), an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship awarded to P.G., the Australian Department of Health Medical Frontiers Future Fund (MRFF; MRF1175457 to A.D.E.), the Australian Research Council (DP200102919 to S.R.R. and G.J.F.), MINECO-FEDER (SAF2017-89745-R) and European Research Council (ERC-STG-2012-309433) funding and a private donation from Ms. Francisca Serrano (Trading y Bolsa para Torpes, Granada, Spain) to J.L.G-P., a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Directors P51 grant (OD011092) to the Oregon National Primate Research Center to support L.C., an Andalusian Government EMERGIA grant (20_00225) to F.J.S-L., a CSL centenary fellowship to G.J.F., and the Mater Foundation. Rhesus macaque tissues were obtained from the Monkey Alcohol Tissue Research Resource (MATRR) biobank, supported by NIH grant 2R24 AA019431

How Important is Variability in Consumer Credit Limits?

Credit limit variability is a crucial aspect of the consumption, savings, and debt decisions of households in the United States. Using a large panel, this paper first demonstrates that individuals gain and lose access to credit frequently and often have their credit limits reduced unexpectedly. Credit limit volatility is larger than most estimates of income volatility and varies over the business cycle. While typical models of intertemporal consumption fix the credit limit, I introduce a model with variable credit limits. Variable credit limits create a reason for households to hold both high interest debts and low interest savings at the same time, since the savings act as insurance. Simulating the model using the estimates of credit limit volatility, I show that it explains all of the credit card puzzle: why around a third of households in the United States hold both debt and liquid savings at the same time. The approach also offers an important new channel through which financial system uncertainty affects household decisions

Purinergic receptors are part of a signalling system for proliferation and differentiation in distinct cell lineages in human anagen hair follicles

We investigated the expression of P2X5, P2X7, P2Y1 and P2Y2 receptor subtypes in adult human anagen hair follicles and in relation to markers of proliferation [proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and Ki-67], keratinocyte differentiation (involucrin) and apoptosis (anticaspase-3). Using immunohistochemistry, we showed that P2X5, P2Y1 and P2Y2 receptors were expressed in spatially distinct zones of the anagen hair follicle: P2Y1 receptors in the outer root sheath and bulb, P2X5 receptors in the inner and outer root sheaths and medulla and P2Y2 receptors in living cells at the edge of the cortex/medulla. P2X7 receptors were not expressed. Colocalisation experiments suggested different functional roles for these receptors: P2Y1 receptors were associated with bulb and outer root sheath keratinocyte proliferation, P2X5 receptors were associated with differentiation of cells of the medulla and inner root sheaths and P2Y2 receptors were associated with early differentiated cells in the cortex/medulla that contribute to the formation of the hair shaft. The therapeutic potential of purinergic agonists and antagonists for controlling hair growth is discussed