By Jeff Domansky, March 8, 2021
As the US Congress gets ready to finalize the newest stimulus package, a new report from doxo shows the relief will last just 22 days in many cases.
According to doxo’s recently released 2021 U.S. Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout report, the average US household spends $22,668 per year or $1,889 per month on the ten most common household bills.
That leaves a nearly $500 gap between the stimulus check and the average monthly household bills. While 90% of Americans believe the payment will help, 61% say it will be ten months or more before they recover from the financial impact of Covid. Sadly, 5% say they will never recover.
What Americans spend monthly
Most Americans (59%) plan to use the stimulus check to pay household bills. Americans spend $2.91 trillion annually – one-fifth (20%) of all US consumer spending – across ten primary bill payment categories.
The report shows in detail which bills Americans plan to pay first, including utilities (78%), cable and Internet (35%), rent (33%), car insurance (32%), mortgage (32%), mobile phone (32%), car payments (27%), health insurance (13%), life insurance (8%), dental insurance (5%), and alarm and security (3%).
Unfortunately, that stimulus check is just enough to cover the mortgage or rent for one month, plus one utility or car loan payment.
While the $1400 amount is the largest pandemic-related stimulus check to date, doxo’s data shows that the typical household will see less than one month of coverage (just 22 days on average) for their most essential household bills.
“While it can be disheartening to see the math around how far the stimulus check will stretch when it comes to household bills, every little bit helps Americans during these tough times,” said Jim Kreyenhagen, VP of Marketing and Consumer Services at doxo. “While it may be short-term relief, our survey data shows that the vast majority of Americans believe the stimulus checks will help improve their financial health in 2021.”
90% see a positive impact
The report shows 90% of Americans believe the stimulus check will improve their financial health in the short term. But 68% of consumers feel it will take the economy more than a year to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Despite much political wrangling, the impact on the average household’s ability to meet its monthly bills is short-term. Vaccinations, a weak economy, and uncertainty still lie ahead for many.
doxo helps more than 4 million consumers pay monthly bills for 75,000 providers across 45 service categories. You can read the doxoINSIGHTS report here.
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