As a CSR at a fuel company who regularly deals with many types of people:
It's not "Americans haven't heard of ach/eft", it's old Americans who refuse to use it.
I have multiple overly paranoid nutters who insist they must hand their check to my driver or some evil spirit will take their money from them in the night (these are not pleasant people in general, either, so I think it's that they like forcing an interaction with their nasty asses on my driver's)