26% of Consumers Want All Disbursements to be Instant

We’ve all gotten used to speed, to getting what we want on demand, through digital channels.

In research done in collaboration between PYMNTS and Ingo Money, and as detailed in the latest installment of the “Disbursements Satisfaction Report” report titled “Instant Payouts Reach an Inflection Point,” there’s a growing desire to get payouts instantly.

And depending on where you look, consumers are willing to pay for that service.

Payouts, or disbursements, can span any number of use cases, across any number of verticals. Government disbursements are perhaps among the most visible options. But insurance claims also need to get paid out, often to multiple parties, as do gambling winnings. Wages, of course, are a form of disbursement.

More than two-thirds of consumers choose instant payouts if given the option, but paying for it depends on the use case and the need. Instant disbursements can give consumers access to disbursement funds in a matter of seconds.

The concept holds wide appeal. As many as 26% of consumers would be willing to pay extra for instant disbursements overall. Drill down a bit, and we found that they are even more likely to be willing to pay extra for borrowing disbursements, insurance payouts and income disbursements. Borrowing seems to top the list, where more than half of consumers would pay for instant capabilities here.

That last data point makes sense, given the fact that they may be tapping lending conduits to get funds on hand with some urgency. The fact remains, too, that getting cash in hand through instant channels may help fill the gaps that come as part of the financial surprises in life — between paydays, perhaps, or during an emergency.

But the “supply factor” is lacking here. By January of this year, we found that only 22% of consumers, overall, had received one instant disbursement, which is only a few percentage points above the August 2021 levels of 19.7%. Only about 22% of consumers had received instant borrowing disbursements by the beginning of this year. For the forward-thinking providers, there may be strategic advantage in meeting this pent-up demand, where consumers are also willing to pay for the surety of getting money with haste.