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Consumer debit card spending is leading a rebound in payment activity, up more than 18% year-over-year, according to the latest weekly transaction report from PSCU.
Debit transactions were up a little more than 3%, recovering from negative territory last week, PSCU said. The CUSO said credit card spend was down 1.3% year-over-year, and transactions were down about 7%. The latest PSCU report compared the week ending July 5 with the same timeframe last year.
"Consumers showed resilience as overall payment volume was very strong for the week, despite resurgent COVID-19 case numbers and slowdowns in state re-openings," Glynn Frechette, SVP of Advisors Plus at PSCU, said in a statement. "Debit led the way once again, with volumes improving week over week for both debit and credit — even the newly designated 'hot zone' states with rising cases and restrictions showed growth in line with the overall U.S."
Frechette added, "In addition to the continuation of strong spending on groceries and goods, we also saw very strong growth in the services sector led by health care and home services."
Card-not-present alternatives continued to show growth, PSCU said. Debit card transactions in this category were up about 48% year-over-year, and transactions were up 42%. Card-not-present volumes for credit cards were up more than 16%, according to the weekly report. Year-over-year, transactions were up nearly 24%.
PSCU said cash withdrawals at ATMs were down year-over-year nearly 18% "indicating less of a preference and desire for cash."
In merchant categories, PSCU said groceries were continuing to see positive trends, as purchases were up 11% for debit and about 12% for credit. Consumer purchases of consumer goods was described as "very strong" — more than 40% up for debit and about 20% up for credit. PSCU said health care and home services saw notable increases: Debit was up about 22% and credit more than 14%.
PSCU said it was closely watching consumer payment activity in newly identified coronavirus "hot zones," including Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas, where the numbers of confirmed cases are rapidly rising. Debit and credit spending activity, PSCU said, "has been close to overall U.S. results, with purchases up 17.5% on debit and down 2.4% on credit for the current week."
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
