Credit, Debit Volumes 'Moderately' Down Year-Over-Year, PSCU Reports
Although overall trends are down, PSCU sees "pockets of strength across various merchant categories."
Overall debit and credit card payment volumes decreased “moderately” year-over-year, according to PSCU’s latest weekly consumer transaction report.
PSCU said debit card spend was up nearly 18% for the week ending July 12 compared to the same time period last year. That amount, however, was about 1 percentage point lower than the previous week. Debit transactions were up nearly 2%, according to the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based CUSO.
Credit card spend was down about 3% for the week, a slight drop from the previous week, PSCU said. Credit transactions were down 8%, according to the latest report.
“While overall payment volume was down for the week, we continue to see pockets of strength across various merchant categories, including grocery and consumer goods,” Glynn Frechette, SVP at Advisors Plus at PSCU, said in a statement. “Consumers continue to transact differently as a result of the pandemic, with high growth in card-not-present volumes, including e-commerce and digital wallet transactions. For consumers with contactless cards, we are also seeing growth in tap-and-go transactions.”
Card-not-present volume for debit purchases was up 47% year-over-year and about 43% for transactions, PSCU said. The trend marked the 13th week in a row of growth clocking in above 35%, according to the report. PSCU said credit card-not-present purchases were up about 14%, and transactions were up more than 23% year-over-year.
“Tap-and-go” payment options have become increasingly popular in the COVID-19 era, as health officials have urged minimizing physical contact to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, PSCU reported.
“Debit contactless transactions have grown from 9% pre-pandemic to 12.4% of card-present activity on contactless debit cards. Contactless credit transactions have also grown from 6.5% to 7.7% of card-present activity on contactless credit cards,” according to the latest weekly trends report.
PSCU said mobile wallet transactions and purchases “are following a similar pandemic-affected pattern for both credit and debit cards as consumers opt for less physical contact.” Mobile wallet purchases via debit card were up about 83% year-over-year, PSCU said, and credit mobile wallet purchases were up nearly 50%.