MasterCard Reports 3Q U.S. Purchase Volume Growth of Almost 8%

Purchase volume on MasterCard International credit and signature-based debit cards in the U.S. grew almost 8% in the third quarter, to $132.9 billion, the bank card company reported today. MasterCard credit cards registered growth of 6.9%, to $109.7 billion, well below worldwide growth of 11.2%. On the signature debit side, however, U.S. growth of 11.8% outpaced the worldwide increase of 10.5%. Of the $37.3 billion in signature-debit volume MasterCard racked up at the point of sale worldwide in the third quarter, 62% was in the U.S. Likewise, two-thirds of the company's 87.9 billion signature debit cards worldwide are in the U.S., according to the third-quarter numbers. U.S. purchase transactions for MasterCard in the quarter reached 1.88 billion, with 1.32 billion on credit cards and 558 million on signature debit. For the first nine months of the year, U.S. purchase volume was $383.2 billion, up 9.6% over the year-ago period. Of this total, credit cards contributed $316 billion (up 8.9%) and signature debit $67.2 billion (up 12.8%). U.S. credit transactions for purchases totaled 3.78 billion, while signature-debit purchases came to 1.6 billion. The average MasterCard credit card ticket at the point of sale is $83.62; on signature debit, it's $42.02. Both third-quarter and year-to-date figures exclude MasterCard's online debit cards, data for which the company says it will release later. The company has an online debit brand, Maestro, as well as a brand for ATM transactions, Cirrus. According to second-quarter data, MasterCard has 545 million Maestro cards worldwide, of which 46.8 million, or just under 9%, are in North America. Almost half of the Maestro card base is in Europe. MasterCard also said it launched a Web site during the third quarter aimed at merchants. Mastercardmerchant.com, the company says, is intended to help retailers “most effectively leverage card acceptance.” A MasterCard manual outlining rules and procedures for merchants can be downloaded from the site, for example.