When it comes to signature-only or non-PIN debit card use, VISA has seriously kicked MasterCard's butt. VISA's Check Card now has an overwhelming 79% share of the U.S. market. Last year VISA racked up more than $239 billion in domestic debit card volume compared to $62.6 billion for MasterCard. More than 100 million VISA Check Cards are now in circulation along with 35.2 million MasterMoney cards. However, the off-line (signature-based) U.S. debit card market is slowing down as the annual growth rate for 2000 declined to 30% compared to 36% for 1999, and 54% for 1998.

                     U.S. OFF-LINE DEBIT  CARD  MARKET
                              Purchase Volume
        BRAND           1997    1998      1999     2000
        VISA:          $93.7b  $134.7b   $183.8b  $239.3b
        MasterCard:    $16.8b  $ 35.1b   $ 48.2b  $ 62.6b

                               Cards-in-Force
        BRAND            1997    1998    1999     2000
        VISA:           58.0m   73.8m   84.5m    100.7m
        MasterCard:     22.1m   26.8m   31.3m     35.2m
                            b-billions  m-millions

Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)