At the end of 2004, Americans carried 657 million bank credit cards, 228 million debit cards, and 550 million retail credit cards in their wallets. At the current rate of growth, the number of payment cards in the U.S. should hit 1.5 trillion by the end of this year. Based on the number of total households, there are now 6.3 bank credit cards, 2.2 debit cards, and 6.4 retail credit cards per household. Fifteen years ago, each household had 3.4 bank credit cards, 0.1 debit cards, and 4.1 retail credit cards.
U.S. PAYMENT CARDS HISTORICAL
Year Credit Debit Retail Total
1990: 320 9 350 679 million
1995: 501 40 448 989 million
2000: 538 136 477 1151 million
2005: 672 263 565 1500 million
Source: CardData (www.carddata.com).
