For the past year, Velera has seen payments rising faster by debit than credit cards. Since October, credit card spending changes have ranged from a 0.4% drop over 12 months to 1.1% gains. Over the same eight months, debit growth was 3.2% to 6.6%.

May data from Velera, Census and BLS also showed:

• Grocery store spending rose 2.4% in May from a year earlier, while inflation for food at home rose 2.1%. At Velera, spending rose 3% by credit and fell 3% by debit.
• Spending at restaurants and bars rose 5% in May from a year earlier, while inflation for food away from home grew 1.0%. At Velera, restaurant spending rose 4% by credit and rose 5% by debit.
• Gasoline spending rose 2.3% in May from a year earlier, while gasoline prices rose 2.2%. At Velera, spending rose 2% by credit and was unchanged by debit.

Velera's report said the gains in gasoline spending were mainly caused by spending at convenience stores, which includes non-fuel purchases. Growth in true gasoline purchases at Automated Fuel Dispensers was modest, with credit up 0.1% and debit up 0.7%.

Velera's credit card delinquency rate was 2.34%, up from 1.86% a year earlier and unchanged from April.

The average credit card balance among accounts managed by Velera was $2,904 on May 31, up $77 or 2.7%, from a year earlier and up $5, or 0.2%, from April.

The total balance of credit card handled by Velera rose 5.1% from a year earlier and 0.5% from April.

The Velera Payments Index was based on data from credit unions that have been processing payments with Velera since January 2022. It encompassed 3.2 billion transactions valued at $160 billion of credit and debit card activity in the 12 months ending May 31.