'Debit Growth Back at High Levels': Unpacking the New PSCU Weekly Report

Debit and credit card transactions for travel and entertainment, substantially curtailed early on by the coronavirus pandemic, have increasingly shown slow and steady improvements, PSCU said in its latest weekly consumer payments snapshot.

Comparing the week ending Aug. 9, 2020, with the same time last year, PSCU indicated that “debit saw the strongest uptick in Week 32, with travel increasing by 11.4 percentage points to finish down 19.1% and entertainment increasing by 9.1 percentage points to finish down 28.7%.”

Card payments overall had returned to upward trends year-over-year, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based PSCU said in its report. Debit card spend was up nearly 20%, and transactions were up a little more than 3%. On the credit card front, consumer spend was down about 2% compared to the same week in 2019. PSCU said credit transactions finished lower by 6.5%.

“Overall card payment volumes bounced back to an upward trend in Week 32 as consumers continue to navigate their way through the evolving pandemic environment,” Glynn Frechette, SVP of Advisors Plus at PSCU, said in a statement. “Despite the recent fiscal stimulus reduction and remaining uncertainty around school openings, our card portfolios performed well last week, with debit growth back at high levels and credit close to positive territory.”

Frechette continued: “Travel and entertainment, which have been the most significantly impacted sectors throughout the pandemic, continued to show slight signs of improvement, a trend we will continue to cautiously monitor.”

PSCU’s weekly transaction report said consumers continue to adopt contactless payment options.

“Debit contactless transactions have grown from around 8% in mid-January to 12.1% of card-present activity on contactless debit cards. Contactless credit transactions have also grown from 6.5% to 9.2% of card-present activity on contactless credit cards,” according to the latest transaction report.

Meanwhile, PSCU said debit spend for restaurants had returned to positive territory — up about 1%. Credit spend, however, was still down — a little more than 24%.

“Services saw a jump this week, with debit finishing up 23.6%, an increase of 18.7 percentage points from last week,” the PSCU report said. “Credit also finished in positive territory at 5.2%. Positive contributors include Healthcare and Home Services, while Personal and School Services also improved from the prior week.”