Around 85 percent of Romanians living in urban areas hold a bank card, but only a limited number use their cards for payments at least once a week, according to a recent study by the Romanian Association for Electronic Payments (APERO) and Nielsen. Around 32 percent of the card holders are suing their cards for payments once a week, while 16 percent are paying by card once every three months or even more rarely.

Ten percent of Romanian card holders are using the card for payments two or three times a week and 22 percent, just once a week.

“the higher card payment frequency is connected more to the revenues per household member, over RON 900, and also to a higher openness to new products and services in general,” said Adrian Apolzan, the president of APERO.

The association has created an index which reflects the population's attitude towards cards and their use, starting with three criteria: the frequency of use, the trust level and the intention to use cards in the future.

In large and medium Romanian cities the index has reported a moderate score: 7.2 out of 10 among those who use cards and 2.8 out of ten among those who don't use cards. Overall, the score is of 6.5, according to APERO.

Most of the respondents in the study are using the debit card most often- 71 percent, only 7 percent the overdraft card, 4 percent, the credit card and 3 percent, the shopping card. The study underlines the future trend of using the debit card with overdraft.

The study shows that 47 percent of the Romanians are using cards, in a country where the urban population makes 55 percent of the total population.

The research for the study was carrier on between March and April 2010 in urban areas and has covered 1,200 people with ages between 18 and 55 years.