More than 20 million general purpose credit and debit cards were added to the national cardbase during the third quarter. VISA, which holds a 52% share based on total U.S. cards-in-force, added more than nine million cards to end the quarter with 452.5 million credit and debit cards. MasterCard, with a 37.5% share, added more than eight million credit and debit cards in 3Q/04. American Express grew by 600,000 cards in the third quarter to 38 million. For complete details on card breakouts by network, visit CardData (www.carddata.com).
3Q/04 CARDS-IN-FORCE
VISA: 452.5 million
MasterCard: 325.8 million
Discover: 53.7 million
American Express: 38.0 million
TOTAL: 870.0 million
Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)
More than 20 million general purpose credit and debit cards were added to the national cardbase during the third quarter. VISA, which holds a 52% share based on total U.S. cards-in-force, added more than nine million cards to end the quarter with 452.5 million credit and debit cards. MasterCard, with a 37.5% share, added more than eight million credit and debit cards in 3Q/04. American Express grew by 600,000 cards in the third quarter to 38 million. For complete details on card breakouts by network, visit CardData (