CU Member Holiday Spending Slows Near Finish of 2020

Credit union members slowed down their holiday spending as deadlines for goods to arrive by Christmas passed and the number of COVID-19 cases rose, according to a PSCU report released Monday.

The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based payments CUSO’s Transaction Trends Update found that among members of credit unions whose transactions are assisted by PSCU, debit card spending in Week 50 that ended Dec. 13 was 13.9% higher than in Week 50 that ended Dec. 19, 2019. The growth rate was weaker than both the 18.1% gain for Week 49 and 14.2% gain in the four weeks ending Nov. 28.

Credit card spending for Week 50 rose 4.1%, below the growth rates of 5.7% in Week 49 and 4.4% in the four weeks ending Nov. 28.

Glynn Frechette, SVP for Advisors Plus at PSCU, said the amount spent via debit cards remains well above a year ago, despite the slower growth.

“Green Monday — the last day to safely order gifts online via free shipping for arrival before Christmas — yielded significant year-over-year increases in the goods sector for both debit and credit purchases, further supporting the continued surge in online shopping,” Frechette said.

Members spent 20.4% more via credit card and 38.3% more via debit on goods bought on Green Monday, which fell on Dec. 14 this year, than on last year’s Green Monday. Members used their cards online for 61.7% of credit and 43.9% of debit purchases Dec. 14.

From Nov. 2 through Dec. 13, members spent 19.1% more on goods by credit and 27% more by debit.

The holiday spending gains are even stronger when isolating online purchases, a trend that has been consistent throughout the pandemic:

• For goods bought in the six weeks ending Dec. 13, members spent 57.3% of their credit card amounts online, compared with 47.4% in the first six weeks of 2019′s holiday spending period.
• For goods bought by debit during the six weeks, members spent 40.3% of their money online, compared with 32.3% a year earlier.
• Members spent an average of $47.41 for each online goods purchase Nov. 28 to Dec. 13, up 14.7% from a year earlier. The average rose 11.7% when including in-person goods purchases by debit card.
• For credit cards, the average online amount for the six weeks was $74.03, up 6.2%. The gain was 4.7% when including in-person goods purchases by credit card.
• In-store purchases in the six-week holiday period are down 3.3% for credit cards and up 12% for debit cards.

PSCU’s reports are made on a same-store basis, meaning a member credit union’s results are included only if it also has results for the prior period. PSCU declined to provide the overall number of credit and debit transactions for Week 50.

In Week 46 the report was based on 9.2 million credit transactions and 38.7 million debit transactions.