Retail sales charged to major credit cards, signature debit cards, and store credit cards is running nearly 10% over projected levels for this year. For the three weeks ending December 12th, overall retail payment card volume has topped $70 billion, compared to an estimated $64 billion for the 2004 season. Debit cards continue to lead the charge, running about 14% over projected volume. Store credit cards are up 1% to $9.7 billion in retail volume for the holiday period, while credit cards are up more than 10% to $47 billion. According to VISA's "SpendTrak" report, overall retail volume on VISA-branded payment cards for last week was $11.0 billion, an 8.9% increase over last year. MasterCard says its cumulative growth in global transactions for the season, to-date, is 9.8%.
Retail sales charged to major credit cards, signature debit cards, and store credit cards is running nearly 10% over projected levels for this year. For the three weeks ending December 12th, overall retail payment card volume has topped $70 billion, compared to an estimated $64 billion for the 2004 season. Debit cards continue to lead the charge, running about 14% over projected volume. Store credit cards are up 1% to $9.7 billion in retail volume for the holiday period, while credit cards are up more than 10% to $47 billion. According to VISA's "SpendTrak" report, overall retail volume on VISA-branded payment cards for last week was $11.0 billion, an 8.9% increase over last year. MasterCard says its cumulative growth in global transactions for the season, to-date, is 9.8%.