An interesting piece of research on the American budget profile from the always topical PEW. 

A sizable minority of adults do most of their transactions online. A sizable majority pays for one or more of the “big three” information age consumer staples each month!  Internet connection, cell phone service and cable or satellite television service. And at the same time that they are carrying the cost of these new technologies, Americans are also paying off record levels of credit card debt each month.

Source: Pew Research Center: What Americans Pay For – and How

One of the many things that struck me was this graph representing the percentage of that age who have had debt problems.  It appears this is consistent at close to 20% from age 30 – 64.  This is a clarion call for Wesabe type services:

In other parts of the research:

• Cheques remain prevalent in the US
• Online is remarkably low at 28% of bill payment
• Reason for using credit card – convenience 66% / unexpected expense 60%

Here is the full report. (pdf)