Paying bills on the mobile phone is becoming increasingly popular in the US, but other forms of payment – particularly online and direct debit – are still, by far, the most favoured options.

According to research from the Aite Group, Americans will spend around $3.8 trillion on bills during 2013, but only 3 per cent of that value, or $114 billion, will be accounted for by mobile.

Online is the most popular payment method (45.8 per cent), followed by mail (21 per cent) and direct debit (16.8 per cent). In-person (9.3 per cent) and phone (4.1 per cent) make up the rest of the 2013 projections.

However, while mobile bill payments are increasing in popularity (it accounted for just 0.3 per cent of the total bill value in 2010), mail and in-person payments are in sharp decline.

Aite estimates that mail payments will account for 15.4 per cent of all bill payments in 2016, down from 34 per cent in 2010. The percentage of payments made in-person is projected to drop from 14.6 per cent (2010) to 6.7 per cent (2016).

Online, mobile and direct debit payments, meanwhile, are on the rise. Online and mobile bill payments, projects Aite, will account for roughly 55 per cent of all bills paid by Americans during 2016, although online makes up the bulk (at 48.7 per cent) to mobile’s 5.9 per cent share.