The use of debit cards and credit cards are now being extensively used and an increase in Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) machines are widely available to the public.
The purchase of longer-term securities, while in some ways “unconventional,” is actually quite similar to the Fed’s traditional approach to monetary policy, which involves lowering the overnight federal funds rate by increasing the supply of reserve balances. With the federal funds rate now effectively pinned at zero, purchases of longer-term securities are intended to push down rates further out the yield curve.