Members Favor Democrats in June on Velera Cards

Political spending is only a tiny amount of the dollars Velera shepherds from credit and debit cards held by credit union members, but it trends blue — at least in June.

Despite President Joe Biden’s less than robust showing in his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump, political donations handled by the nation’s largest payments CUSO favored Democrats last month.

The Velera Payments Index released Tuesday showed payments to ActBlue and other Democratic groups accounted for 61% of the political dollars spent by credit card and 49% by debit card in June, while payments to WinRed and other Republican groups accounted for 28% by credit and 38% by debit.

The remaining 11% by credit and 13% by debit went to local candidates or others where party affiliation was unclear.

The spending by Velera-affiliated members compared with a more even split in overall campaign funds. OpenSecrets.org, a non-partisan 501(c)(3) based in Washington, D.C., showed $401.7 million raised so far for Biden and $403.5 million for Trump.

The average amount spent on Democrats in June was $39.66 by credit card and $25.04 by debit. Average spending on Republicans was $32.31 by credit and $25.02 by debit.

Velera didn’t release the total amounts spent, but instead created an index with January 2020 as its base for comparisons.

June’s total political spending was an average $39.16 by credit, down 17.2% from June 2020, and $27.10 by debit, down 32.2%. May’s political spending was about the same as June’s: $36.97 by credit (up 19.9% from May 2020) and $25.11 by debit (up 5.9%). Velera did not provide a split by party for May.

May’s spending showed a spike in the final week, which included Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in the case involving hush money payments by Trump in 2016 to cover up an affair with a porn star.

The rest of the report from the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Velera showed credit card spending continued its year-long pattern of shrinking 12-month gains, while debit spending remained above average retail growth.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday that retail spending, excluding automobiles and parts, rose 3.4% in June from a year earlier. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported earlier that inflation grew at a 12-month pace of 3.0% in June.

Velera said the sectors having the largest impact on its credit purchases were goods and travel, which collectively drove growth down 1.4 percentage points, while restaurants boosted growth by 0.2 points. For debit purchases, money services (such as PayPal and Venmo) and goods together raised the growth rate by 2.3 percentage points.

June data from Velera, Census and BLS also showed:

• Grocery store spending rose 1.6% in June from a year earlier, while inflation for food at home rose 1.1%. At Velera, spending was unchanged by credit and rose 2% by debit.
• Gasoline spending fell 2.1% in June from a year earlier, while gasoline prices fell 2.5%. At Velera, spending fell 4% by credit and fell 1% by debit.
• Spending at restaurants and bars rose 4% in June from a year earlier, while inflation for food away from home grew 4.1%. At Velera, spending rose 3% by credit and rose 5% by debit.

The monthly numbers, which are unadjusted, fluctuated considerably, especially for debit.

Over the 12 months ending June 30, the average of the percentage changes was a 0.9% gain by credit and a 4.6% gain by debit.

Velera doesn’t release the base values for credit and debit spending, so it’s difficult to tell how much overall member spending is rising or falling.

If the base numbers for two payment methods were equal, spending among members for the previous 12 months would have averaged 1.9% higher than a year earlier, which would have been lower than the 2.9% gain in retail spending (excluding cars and parts) for the 12 months ending June 30.

The available data also doesn’t show what’s in members’ wallets. How much are members shifting spending from Velera-managed cards to those from banks or others? It’s unclear.

Despite those information gaps, the Velera Payments Index offers a large sample of credit union spending behavior. The report was based on data from credit unions that have been processing payments with Velera since January 2022. It encompassed 3.3 billion transactions valued at $163 billion of credit and debit card activity in the 12 months ending June 30.

Credit card balances were 5.5% higher than a year earlier and grew 1.03% from May to June. Members’ average credit card balance was $2,936 on June 30, up 3.7%, or $104, from a year earlier and up 1.1%, or $32, from May.

Following a steady decline in the delinquency rate during 2024, the percentage of balances delinquent in June rose 10 basis points from May to reach 2.44% on June 30. It was up 50 basis points from a year earlier.