Attributes that attract consumers to apply for debit card.

Electronic means of payment have enjoyed a tremendous increase of popularity recently. Among various types of electronic payment, debit card and credit card are perhaps the most popular. Many attributes have been identified to have attracted consumers to apply for these cards. These attributes vary in terms of their effectiveness. Financial institutes often have to balance the costs and the benefits of offering these attributes in order for the services to make business sense. It is also unclear to what extent are financial institutes able to bundle their debit card offerings with the more lucrative credit card services. In this paper, we seek to uncover attributes that are most effective in attracting consumers to apply for debit cards, and whether debit card holders are likely to apply for credit cards with the same banks where they obtain their debit cards. Drawing on theoretical foundations that we listed in the literature review, we argue that convenience is the main attribute that will attract consumers to sign up for debit cards. Our survey findings do not support these predictions. It is also in our belief that consumers who sign up for debit cards will apply for credit cards by the same bank in the future. We contend that the new findings will provide financial institutes some evidence on consumer preferences and allow them to optimize their service offerings in the debit card and credit card markets