Credit card volume in the USA is currently growing by 4.8%, with American Express leading the charge with a 10.1% annual growth rate. The level of activity on credit cards matches the increase in overall U.S. consumer spending. However, discounting AmEx would lower the current growth rate to a paltry 3.8%. VISA’s second quarter credit card volume was up 4.6%, compared to MasterCard’s 3.1%, and Discover’s 2.1%. Based on data compiled by CardData (www.carddata.com), total credit card dollar volume in the second quarter was $373.2 billion compared to $356.0 billion for 2Q/02.
Quarterly Credit Card Gross Dollar Volume (all figures $ billions)
2Q/03 1Q/03 2Q/02 CHNG
VISA: 158.8 145.2 151.8 +4.6%
MasterCard: 125.8 117.2 122.0 +3.1%
Amer Exp: 64.6 58.9 58.7 +10.1%
Discover: 24.0 26.1 23.5 +2.1%
TOTAL: 373.2 347.4 356.0 +4.8%
Source: CardData (www.carddata.com)
