The largest U.S. bank (general purpose) credit card issuers are currently growing by 9% year over year, approaching $400 billion, according to CardData.com. 
The Top 4 issuers include: Chase, Capital One, Bank of America and Citibank.
For consumers this means more concentration and less competition in the U.S. credit card business and thus possibly higher costs to follow.
In industry jargon: “U.S. credit card outstandings end-of-period (EOP) among the Top 4 U.S. issuers gained 9.1% in the third quarter (3Q/16) year-on-year (YOY) to $394.5 billion.”
The gain was driven largely by Citibank as its acquisition of the Costco card portfolio in 2016 from American Express has skyrocketed outstandings. AmEx also gave up its Jet Blue cards to Barclaycard last year.
Chase reported end-of-period (EOP) outstandings for 3Q/16 were up 5.0% YOY. At the end of the third quarter, Chase had $133.4 billion in outstandings, compared to $131.6 billion in the prior quarter and $127.0 billion in the year ago quarter.
BofA reported EOP outstandings for 3Q/16 were up 0.6% YOY. At the end of the third quarter, BofA had $88.8 billion in outstandings, compared to $88.1 billion in the prior quarter and $88.3 billion in the year ago quarter.
Capital One reported EOP outstandings for 3Q/16 soared 10.6% YOY. Capital One had $91.0 billion in 3Q/16 outstandings, compared to $88.6 billion in the prior quarter and $82.2 billion in the year ago quarter.
Citibank reported EOP outstandings for 3Q/16 soared by 25.5% YOY. At the end of the third quarter, Citibank had $81.3 billion in outstandings, compared to $77.5 billion in the prior quarter and $64.8 billion in the year ago quarter.
TOP 4 U.S ISSUERS OUTSTANDINGS
3Q/15: $361.6 billion
4Q/15: $376.2 billion
1Q/16: $362.0 billion
2Q/16: $385.8 billion
3Q/16: $394.5 billion
CHASE U.S. CREDIT OUTSTANDINGS
3Q/15: $127.0 billion
4Q/15: $131.5 billion
1Q/16: $126.1 billion
2Q/16: $131.6 billion
3Q/16: $133.4 billion
BANK OF AMERICA U.S. CREDIT OUTSTANDINGS
3Q/15: $88.3 billion
4Q/15: $89.6 billion
1Q/16: $86.4 billion
2Q/16: $88.1 billion
3Q/16: $88.8 billion
CAPITAL ONE U.S. CREDIT OUTSTANDINGS
3Q/15: $82.2 billion
4Q/15: $87.9 billion
1Q/16: $84.6 billion
2Q/16: $88.6 billion
3Q/16: $91.0 billion
CITIBANK U.S. CREDIT OUTSTANDINGS
3Q/15: $64.8 billion
4Q/15: $67.2 billion
1Q/16: $64.9 billion
2Q/16: $77.5 billion
3Q/16: $81.3 billion
Source: Chase; Bank of America; Capital One; Citibank; CardData
This Report is Updated Quarterly Along With 103 Other Payment Industry Analysis Reports and Is Available in CardData.com (subscription required)
