CARPINTERIA, Calif. – Spending for goods and services initiated by credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in the United States, which totaled $6.616 trillion in 2017, will reach $9.313 trillion in 2022, according to statistics just released by The Nilson Report.
The Nilson Report noted at the end of 2017, there were 6.71 billion credit, debit, and prepaid cards in circulation in the U.S., and that within five years another 1.06 billion cards will be added, bringing the total to 7.77 billion at the end of 2022.
“Spending on payment cards—credit, debit, and prepaid combined—remains strong even though the U.S. is a very mature market,” said David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report, in a statement.
According to the Nilson Report, credit cards accounted for 54.37% of spending on all types of cards in 2017, a figure that will grow to 54.96% in 2022. Outstanding credit card debt, which was $1.062 trillion at the end of 2017, will grow by 24.5% over the next five years to reach $1.322 trillion at the end of 2022, the company stated in its forecast.
Credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in the United States were used in 118.47 billion transactions in 2017 to pay for goods and services, according to the Nilson Report. “In five years, Americans will use their payment cards 154.72 billion times to pay for goods and services,” it stated.
The Nilson Report counts payment cards in circulation as general purpose cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover), EFT network cards (Star, Nyce, Pulse, etc.), as well as private label cards (store, gasoline, fleet, medical, hotel, airline, etc.).