MasterCard Reports Debit Increase Nearly Triple That of Credit

Reflecting a recent trend in card-based payments, signature-debit card dollar volume on MasterCard International's U.S. network grew at double-digit rates in the first nine months of the year, far outstripping growth in credit card transactions. MasterCard reported today that its signature, or offline, debit cards in the U.S. accounted for 2.02 billion purchase transactions in the January through September period, racking up $85.1 billion in point-of-sale volume, up 26.3% from the same period in 2004. Credit cards, meanwhile, accounted for 4.09 billion point-of-sale transactions, good for $345 billion in volume, an increase of 9.1%. The average credit card ticket was almost exactly double that of the average sale on a signature-debit card, $84.35 vs. $42.13. Results for the third quarter were little changed from the nine-month trend. U.S. purchase volume on debit cards grew 26.6% in the period, to $29.6 billion, on 705.7 million transactions. Credit card volume hit $121.8 billion, a rise of 10.9%, on 1.43 billion transactions. The Purchase, N.Y.-based bank card association, which is in the process of becoming a publicly held corporation, reported its members had 273.2 million credit cards in circulation in the U.S. as of Sept. 30, on 228.7 million accounts. They had also issued 73.2 million signature-based debit cards, on 66.8 million accounts. Signature-based debit is far more popular in the U.S. than in most other regions of the world, where debit transactions secured by PINs tend to hold sway. The U.S. accounts for nearly two-thirds of all MasterCard signature-debit cards worldwide, but just 45% of all MasterCard credit cards.