Contents
- Canadian payment method use statistics: Canada’s 2025 payment mix
- Canadian payment method use statistics: cash use and cash holdings
- Canadian payment method use statistics: cards and contactless payments
- Canadian payment method use statistics: online payment method use in Canada
- Canadian payment method use statistics: transfers and digital payment activity
- Canadian payment method use statistics: payment methods accepted by Canadian businesses
- Sources
Canadian payment method use statistics: Canada’s 2025 payment mix
Canada recorded 26.7 billion payment transactions in 2025, worth $12.9 trillion. Payments Canada’s table reports 26,707 million transactions and a total value of $12,941,192 million. These totals bring together the national payment methods covered in the report, so they describe the scale of payment activity rather than the experience of a single consumer or merchant. Payments Canada, Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026, page 30, Table 4
The volume and value shares tell different stories. Credit cards accounted for 43% of national transaction volume, or 11,590 million payments. Debit cards accounted for 25%, or 6,793 million payments. Online transfers made up 6%, or 1,683 million payments. By value, electronic funds transfers (EFT) were the largest category listed, representing 63% of the total, or $8,209,393 million. Cheques represented 20% of value, or $2,579,535 million. Payments Canada, page 30, Table 4
| Payment method | Share of 2025 transaction volume | Share of 2025 transaction value |
|---|---|---|
| Credit card | 43% | — |
| Debit card | 25% | — |
| Online transfer | 6% | — |
| Electronic funds transfer (EFT) | — | 63% |
| Cheque | — | 20% |
The table shows only the supplied volume or value measure for each method; a dash means that this comparison does not include a figure for that cell. Transaction shares should be read within their own measure: a method’s share of the number of payments does not state its share of dollars moved. The report combines system and partner data, estimates and survey research in its national picture. Its transaction totals are therefore a different kind of measure from the diary shares and consumer survey results discussed below. Payments Canada, Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026, page 30, Table 4; scope notes
Canadian payment method use statistics: cash use and cash holdings
Payments Canada estimates that Canadians made 2.4 billion cash transactions in 2025, worth $56 billion. Its table gives more detailed totals: 2,359 million transactions and $56,233 million. Cash accounted for 9% of national transaction volume. The report describes its share of transaction value as less than 1%, although the table rounds the value share to 1%. These figures are annual national estimates, not the share of purchases reported by diary participants. Payments Canada, Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026, pages 30 and 33, Table 4 and cash discussion
The cash totals have a specific estimation basis. Payments Canada extrapolated the Bank of Canada’s November 2025 point-of-sale cash data to the full year, assuming point-of-sale cash made up 90% of total cash transaction volume and value. The report puts the average cash transaction value at $24 in 2025, down from $25 in 2024. Payments Canada, page 33, cash discussion and estimation note
A separate Bank of Canada measure comes from its 2025 Methods-of-Payment Survey. In its diary survey instrument, cash was used for 18% of point-of-sale payments by volume and represented 10% of point-of-sale payment value. The report compared the volume share with 21% in 2024 and the value share with 11% in 2024. The diary’s point-of-sale shares and Payments Canada’s national annual estimates use distinct methods and should not be treated as interchangeable readings of one series. Bank of Canada, 2025 Methods-of-Payment Survey Report, page 12, section 4.1 and Chart 8
Cash also remained present in people’s wallets and pockets. About 76% of adult Canadians surveyed in 2025 had cash on hand when surveyed; the report defines this as cash in a wallet, purse or pocket. The share was down 2.5 percentage points from 2024. Among respondents who carried cash, the average amount on hand was $141 and the median was $70. These holdings figures describe people who had cash available, not the total cash held by all Canadians. Bank of Canada, page 8, section 3.1.1, “Cash holdings”
Payments Canada reported that 45% of Canadians frequently used cash in 2025. In that survey, frequent use meant using cash to make payments every couple of weeks or more often. That frequency measure captures regular use, while the Bank of Canada’s cash-on-hand question records whether a respondent had cash with them at the time of the survey. Payments Canada, Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026, page 33 and footnote 102
Canadian payment method use statistics: cards and contactless payments
In the Bank of Canada’s 2025 diary, credit cards represented 48% of overall purchase volume and 58% of purchase value. The report’s scope includes online and in-person purchases. These shares describe diary-recorded purchases, not the share of every payment in Payments Canada’s national transaction total. Bank of Canada, 2025 Methods-of-Payment Survey Report, page 12, section 4.1, “Shares by method of payment”
The Bank of Canada also separates credit and debit payments by transaction type. Contactless credit payments, including plastic cards and mobile devices, represented 34% of purchase volume and 32% of purchase value. Chip-and-PIN or online credit payments formed a combined category representing 14% of purchase volume and 26% of purchase value. These categories distinguish how the payment was made; they do not replace the overall credit-card shares above. Bank of Canada, page 12, section 4.1, credit payment classifications
For debit, the diary reports 25% of total transaction volume and 24% of total transaction value for point-of-sale debit payments. Within the debit classifications, contactless transactions—again including plastic cards and mobile devices—represented 19% of purchase volume and 15% of purchase value. Bank of Canada, page 12, section 4.1, debit payment classifications
| Bank of Canada 2025 diary measure | Purchase volume | Purchase value |
|---|---|---|
| Credit cards, overall purchases | 48% | 58% |
| Contactless credit | 34% | 32% |
| Chip-and-PIN or online credit | 14% | 26% |
| Debit cards, point-of-sale | 25% | 24% |
| Contactless debit | 19% | 15% |
The overall credit and debit measures and their transaction classifications are reported for different groupings. In particular, contactless and chip-and-PIN or online categories describe types of payments within the report’s card discussion; the figures should not be added together as if they were mutually exclusive shares of one total. The report also notes that mobile app payments that did not involve contactless card transactions accounted for 2.3% of payment volume and 1.3% of payment value in 2025. It cautions that instrument changes mean these “other” mobile shares are not directly comparable with earlier years. Bank of Canada, page 12, section 4.1, payment classifications and mobile app payment note
Canadian payment method use statistics: online payment method use in Canada
Statistics Canada’s 2022 Canadian Internet Use Survey found that 79% of internet users purchased goods or services online. The purchase reference period was the previous 12 months. The target population was people aged 15 and older in the 10 provinces; the survey excluded the territories and full-time institutional residents. Statistics Canada, The Daily — Trends in online banking and shopping, section “Almost 8 in 10 Internet users shop online”
Among online shoppers in that survey, 89% used a credit card to pay for online purchases. Other reported methods were online payment services (37%), debit cards (23%), electronic bank transfers (21%), virtual wallets (17%), rewards points (15%) and prepaid gift cards or online vouchers (14%). These are payment-method response percentages among online shoppers, not percentages of all internet users. The methods are not mutually exclusive, so a shopper could report more than one. Statistics Canada, The Daily — Trends in online banking and shopping, online payment-method discussion
Payments Canada’s report provides a separate set of online-purchaser figures for 2025: 61% used credit cards for online purchases in the previous 12 months, while 33% used Mastercard or Visa Debit. These results come from a different survey and year than Statistics Canada’s 2022 figures. The percentages therefore provide period-specific snapshots; they do not, by themselves, establish a trend between 2022 and 2025. Payments Canada, Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026, pages 40 and 57, online payment methods
| Online purchase measure | Period | Reported share |
|---|---|---|
| Internet users who purchased goods or services online | 2022 | 79% |
| Online shoppers who used a credit card | 2022 | 89% |
| Online shoppers who used a credit card | 2025 | 61% |
| Online purchasers who used Mastercard or Visa Debit | 2025 | 33% |
The first measure concerns whether internet users shopped online. The remaining measures concern payment methods among shoppers or purchasers, and the 2022 and 2025 results come from separate sources and survey contexts. The table is useful for keeping the denominators visible, not for reading the figures as a single continuous series. Statistics Canada, The Daily — Trends in online banking and shopping; Payments Canada, Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026, pages 40 and 57 Payments Canada report
Canadian payment method use statistics: transfers and digital payment activity
Interac e-Transfer combined frequent consumer use with a large national transaction total in 2025. Payments Canada reported that 66% of Canadians frequently used it for payments, defining frequent use as monthly or more often. Separately, 74% frequently used Interac e-Transfer to send money to friends or family. These figures describe survey respondents’ reported use, with the second focused on a particular purpose. Payments Canada, Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report 2026, page 50, online transfer discussion
Nationally, Interac e-Transfer volume reached 1.6 billion transactions in 2025, up 14% from 2024. Its value reached $663 billion, up 18% year over year. Those are transaction totals and reported annual changes, distinct from the consumer-use percentages. Payments Canada, page 50, Interac e-Transfer transaction discussion
For peer-to-peer payments, among Canadians who made a P2P payment in a given six-month period, 68% used Interac e-Transfer. PayPal and bank transfer each registered 22%, while cash registered 16%. Respondents could use multiple methods, so these percentages do not represent slices that must add to 100%. The six-month period is part of the survey’s scope and should not be confused with annual transaction totals. Payments Canada, page 50, online transfer discussion, P2P method list
Among consumers who sent Interac e-Transfers, 73% used a smartphone channel. Computer or laptop was reported by 21%. These figures describe sending channels among consumers who sent transfers; they are not shares of all Canadian payments or all online activity. Payments Canada, page 50, online transfer discussion, sending channels; footnote 245
Canadian payment method use statistics: payment methods accepted by Canadian businesses
Statistics Canada’s Canadian Survey on Business Conditions found that, in the third quarter of 2023, 70.1% of Canadian businesses accepted cheques and 60.8% accepted electronic funds transfers. The proportions were 53.4% for cash, 52.4% for credit cards, 50.0% for Interac e-transfer and 40.9% for debit cards. These figures measure business acceptance, not consumer use or the share of business transactions made through each method. Statistics Canada, Analysis of payment methods accepted by businesses, third quarter of 2023, Table 1
| Payment method accepted | Canadian businesses, third quarter 2023 |
|---|---|
| Cheque | 70.1% |
| Electronic funds transfer (EFT) | 60.8% |
| Cash | 53.4% |
| Credit card | 52.4% |
| Interac e-transfer | 50.0% |
| Debit card | 40.9% |
Acceptance varied by industry in the Statistics Canada discussion: retail trade businesses were most likely to accept cash, at 92.3%. The business survey also asked some respondents about payment methods they did not accept. Among businesses asked about those methods, 67.8% said their current payment methods were sufficient for their business and clients or customers. Service fees were cited by 22.6% as a reason for not accepting certain methods. The sufficiency and fee figures apply to businesses asked about non-accepted methods; they are not percentages of all Canadian businesses. Statistics Canada, Analysis of payment methods accepted by businesses, third quarter of 2023, Table 3 and accompanying discussion