A Sneak Peek From Visa Shows U.S. Debit Volume Growth Continues As Credit Volume Dips

Visa Inc. said U.S. debit volume increased 31% in January and 16% in February over the comparable 2020 months, while its credit volume dipped 6% and 8%, respectively.

In an 8-K filing, Visa, which did not release actual volume data, said for the quarter to date overall U.S. payments volume is up 8% from a year ago. Credit is down 6%, but debit is up 23%.

Within these broad categories, some payment types experienced greater growth. In February, Visa said card-not-present volume, excluding travel, grew 30% and card-present decreased 6% year-over-year.

Overall for February, U.S. payments volume increased 9% from 2020, but was still down 2% from January. Visa attributed this to weather-related impacts in the third week of February and less benefit from stimulus spending.

“Debit volume growth was more impacted in February, while credit volume showed some improvement from the prior month,” Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Sanjay Sakhrani said in a research note. 

Regarding the card present and CNP breakdown, “The spend-by-merchant category saw similar trends, though fuel and travel-related spending were exceptions as both saw improvement of more than 500 [basis points],” the note says. “U.S. payment volumes improved moderately in the first week of March relative to the February exit rate.”